


If at first, you don't succeed...

by ZScalantian



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, It grew, Multiple Endings, Not a dark fic, SPOILERS for both VII remake and OG, Temporary Character Death, Temporary Character Suicide, This was for a 1k exchange, Time Travel, Timey-Wimey, Warning: Hojo (Compilation of FFVII), mild romance but it's not the focus and doesn't settle on one pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25639225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZScalantian/pseuds/ZScalantian
Summary: It wasn’t Shinra or Sephiroth that was her main enemy.  It wasn’t even JENOVA.  Aerith knew with certainty that her enemy, her fight, was against the whispers of fate.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30
Collections: FF7 Fanworks Exchange '20





	If at first, you don't succeed...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chofi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chofi/gifts).



On January 21 εуλ 0008, Meteor fell, destroying the largest city in history and the center of human civilization. Aerith alleviated the worst of it, guiding the lifestream to break apart the calamitous rock, but there were consequences to Midgar’s loss. The world’s economy crashed, causing famine and disease to spread across the continents, stretching resources thin. Still, humanity survived, rebuilding amidst the planet's recovering ecosystems. 

  
Even a year later, at the height of the pandemic, during Sephiroth’s return, they didn’t lose hope. The resentment and suffering of geostigma’s victims clogged the lifestream, but it was the hope found in the living that gave Aerith the strength to release the cure across the planet in a healing rain.

  
In εуλ 0010, Deepground, a dark secret long hidden by Shinra, resurfaced. These enhanced soldiers launched attacks on Kalm and Edge. Rising together, an army from across the world was formed to fight back, her friends at its front. She prayed for them from the lifestream.

  
In εуλ 0011, Genesis, a man Minerva had hoped would be her champion, turned from her and embraced a new goddess. JENOVA. Again, the planet’s army came together. The WRO, Wutai, Shinra’s remnants, and AVALANCHE fought as one.

  
Εуλ 0012: Sephiroth returned. Thousands died. And still, her friends and humanity at large didn’t lose their hope for a better future.

  
Εуλ 0013: A civil war broke out, beginning in Edge. People wanted a return to mako energy and what they saw as humanity’s glory days under Shinra.

  
Εуλ 0014: The year started with a massive oil tanker being sunk in the northern ocean, causing widespread pollution and death to marine life. Mideel, still recovering from the hard-hit it had taken from Ultimate WEAPON, was bombed by the Shinra factions, triggering a string of earthquakes. The island gradually but completely collapsed into the lifestream, swallowing the town. At the end of the year, the airship Shera was shot down, killing all on board. This marked the beginning of her friends joining her in the lifestream.

  
Εуλ 0015: In the midst of the war, a cult known as the Silver Elite summoned Sephiroth back from the dead. Though he was defeated, several more of her friends joined her.

Εуλ 0016: The war ended and Shinra was forever disbanded. There was new hope, but also more resentment, distrust, and grief. Because of the war, the recovering ecosystems were set back. Unexploded mines and bombs made daily travel dangerous. This was how Marlene came to her.

  
Εуλ 0017: A group of scientists decided to give OMEGA another try. They targeted Vincent and destabilized the proto-materia inside him. Fearing his loss of control over Chaos, he took the No.27 rocket off planet. She followed his presence for as long as she could.

  
Εуλ 0018: On the tenth anniversary of Meteor, Sephiroth came back.

  
☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌  
  
She felt the exact moment the oily darkness of anger and hate that was the mixed consciousness of JENOVA and Sephiroth left the lifestream. No, not again! Everyone was so tired. So worn down. The future they wanted had never come. Never would come. Humanity, its population already culled by over half, couldn’t take this again.

She couldn’t stand to watch the remainder of her friends broken again. She also couldn’t stand not doing anything to help. Aerith reached out to their dreams, warning them as best she could. Still, the fight when it came, did not begin well. Sephiroth was rested, Cloud had bags under his eyes.

A soft brush of awareness, like a quiet tap on her shoulder, startled her. She brushed the spirit off, intent on the fight. It tugged at her, insistent.

_Okay, fine. What do you want?_

The fragment of Cetran soul flickered like a candle in the lifestream’s torrent. _Follow_

_Follow where?_

_Follow_

I’m sort of busy worrying about my friends and the end of the world right now. 

Follow The fragment started to float away from her.

She reached out with her soul to tell the fragment to hold on. Wait, and she would follow it later. As she did, though, other little candle lights sprouted around her. The fragments were so small, so old, they weren’t people anymore. Just the echoes of emotions. One was hope, soft and gentle. Another was sharp, cunning. Self-reliance or determination, she couldn’t tell, was hard like a polished stone. Imagination and mischief popped and crackled around each other, and when adventure joined them they seemed to grow brighter.

She followed the emotions to what she considered the bank of the lifestream, its invisible boundary. All right, I followed you. _What is it you want to show me?_

 _Look_ Cunning flared like a candle trying not to go out in the rain.

_Look at what?_

_Look!_

_Pushy._ Aerith spread out her soul, searching along the bank. After a moment of not finding anything particular, she sighed. _What am I looking for?_

All the lights collected around one spot. _Hope_

Reaching out, she probed at the spot. _Aahh!_ A sliver of herself was pulled forward, not unlike the time she’d stuck her finger into an anemone at a Junon tide pool. Pulling back, she re-examined the spot. It wasn’t that the boundary was weak here. It was more like she’d stumbled onto a door hidden behind a thick curtain.

_What is this?_

_Hope Adventure Chance Time they_ chorused.

Tentatively, she poked more of herself through the door. This time it was like stepping into a large river. She could feel the power of its current. If she took one, two more steps she would be washed away. She wondered if this was how souls without Cetran blood felt in the lifestream.

_What is this place?_

_Timestream_

_The timestream?_ She could see down the river. Many branching flows with twists and turns reached ahead of her. However, all but one was blocked by ragged grey wraiths. They coiled and writhed, preventing the timestream from taking any but their chosen course. A course that narrowed and narrowed to a needle-like point.

Anger and indignation flared in her. _Oh no, they didn’t._ She wasn't sure what those ghost-things were, but their intentions were clear. Aerith wasn't about to let things end like this. Carefully, like a reluctant bather getting into cold water, she eased herself into the flow. What surprised her was that she wasn’t immediately hurled onward. Instead, she was in a bubble. She could feel the powerful rush of time around her, storm-winds rattling shuttered windows.

 _Which way?_ The voice slipped through her, wondering, searching.

 _I can choose?_ Her plan had simply been to ram into one of the whispers, opening a new channel.

Bouncing back like an echo, she was asked again. _Which way?_

She didn’t need a second to think. _Back, of course._

The bubble popped. Time flowed in. Powerful, cruel. Dragging her down, drowning in memories. Destruction and bloodshed played in reverse. Fallen bodies stood back up, bombs returned to planes, raindrops left the earth dry. Too much, no anchor. As soon as she felt the connection she dove into her body.

And flinched back. Masamune sliced the air, spiderweb cracks splintering the marble beneath her as the blade stabbed down. She scuttled backward, almost crab-walking down the steps. Pain. She screamed.

_Which way?_

The bubble was around her again, the pain was gone. Okay, so going back to the exact moment of her death might not have been her best idea. 

Hope flickered beside her. _Oh, you came back too?_ Looking around, it seemed all of the fragments had. _Okay, let’s try this again. Back by a little please._

This time watching everything in reverse was less overwhelming, as she only went back a few days. She blinked. The bed beneath her was semi-soft, the blankets slightly scratchy. It wasn’t the grandest or most comfortable bed, but the sensation of touch overrode everything else. In her first attempt at redoing things, she had been alive for only a few seconds. This time, with no imminent threats, she took a few minutes to relish having her body back. She heard birds outside, and the rustling of branches. There were soft breaths and snores nearer to her - a nostalgic noise that wrapped around her heart with joy and sadness. Her friends.

She sat up, opening her eyes. The inn room was barely lit, only a sliver of pale blue light coming through the shutters of a square window. She went over and pushed it open, inhaling deeply. The pungent scent of damp earth, decaying leaf litter, and growing things, mixed with sweet flowers and overripe fruit, floated in from the silhouetted trees of the Gongagan jungle.

Alright. Enough dilly-dallying. Sephiroth had the black materia and she needed to summon Holy. He would try to stop her. She turned and looked at her friends in the predawn light - all crammed into one room, sharing beds, unaware of what came next. She looked at a certain sleeping face. Having Cloud at this confrontation was a bad idea right now. She knew if she asked him to sit this out, he would, but it would also undermine his mental health. Confirming how he felt: that he couldn’t be trusted, couldn’t be relied on, that he was a danger.

What to do?   
  
☠︎⌛︎⎌  
  
“I have an idea.”

It was a somber lot who gathered to discuss what their next move was. Cloud stood with his arms folded, defensive. Tifa hovered near him. Aerith had missed this the first time, leaving before dawn to go alone to the Northern Forest. Their conversation then must have been whether to follow her or not. 

When she spoke, they all looked at her.“First, I need some gold chocobos.”

“Gold?” Cloud’s brow furrowed. 

“Yep. And I overheard someone, so I know just how to get them.” She explained the complicated breeding process to them.

Their faces were a picture of reluctance. Tifa took a deep breath, clearly accepting the responsibility of wrangling one of Aerith’s irresponsible impulses. “Okay, but why do we need gold chocobos? Won’t another do?”

“Nope. Because they can’t reach where I need to go.”

“And that is?”

“An island in the northern sea. There’s a powerful materia up there that will help us fight Sephiroth.” Their expressions changed - they’d thought she was being playful, lightening the mood. Nope. Goal-focused until this was resolved, that was her.

They discussed it a bit more, but they needed a lead right now. They were downhearted and desperate and it didn't take much work to get them to bite at anything that looked like forward progress. As they headed out, she grabbed Tifa and Yuffie by the arms. “Alright," she chirped. "You boys have fun chasing down some wonderful chocobos for us. We are off to de-stress at the Gold Saucer.”

“What?" Their heads whipped toward her. Even Vincent looked betrayed. 

"You _are_ goin' off to play!” Barret burst out.

“Yep! See you in a few days!” She tugged Tifa, too shocked to resist, and Yuffie, all eager, back into the inn room with her. Red caught her eye as the door shut - his mobile brows were drawn down over his narrowed gold eyes, and the black line of his lips was thin. A face of suspicion, not surprise. He was at least a little sensitive to the lifestream, and his nose picked up all kinds of things. Could he guess…?

Yuffie tugged away from her, bouncing up and down. "Great idea! This'll be a lot better than working with some smelly ol' birds!"

"Aerith…"

“Actually, we aren’t going to the Gold Saucer." Aerith clasped her hands behind her back and smiled winningly. "You’re coming with me as my bodyguards to the Sleeping Forest.”

“The _what_ now? I wanna go have fun!” Yuffie whined.

Realization dawned on Tifa's face. “It’s… You’re worried about Cloud, aren’t you?”

She nodded. “Sephiroth might try to stop us. I don’t want to put Cloud in that position.”

Tifa looked away. “Because he might lose control again."

“He won’t. He’ll get strong enough to fight off Sephiroth. He just needs more time.” _And for you to help put him back together._ She didn’t say that last part out loud.

They reached the sleeping forest in three days. She felt nervous entering, despite its peacefulness and serenity. She'd died here. She'd died here again, only days ago. But it was only in the hidden temple, a shrine dedicated to the heart and life of the planet, that she could summon Holy. She had to go in.

"It's so quiet," Tifa mused. Their feet hushed through leaf litter undecayed by time. "I feel like I could drift off to sleep."

"It's a spell, a defense. The whole forest is asleep." Aerith turned to her companions. "Stay close to me so you don't get lost."

She held up her hand, focusing. Light began to flicker from her palm. _We're not here to cause harm. Please let us through._ The light grew brighter until it cast a halo around them, warding off the forest's spell. "Alright, all set."

Walking through the forest was so different this time, with Yuffie's constant chatter and Tifa pulling the young ninja back into the halo when she began impulsively scampering off. It helped settle her nerves. She had always intended to return to them after her prayer. By traveling with AVALANCHE, picking fights with the most powerful people on the planet, she'd accepted the possibility of death, hers included. But she'd never _planned_ to die, not once willing to be a sacrifice for the future. It was nice to be here with her friends. She should have done it this way the first time around.

To get Yuffie through the forbidden city, she had to promise that they would explore properly after she had summoned Holy. At the door of the temple, her pulse thrummed frantically in her wrists, her throat, like a bird beating against its cage. Determined, she pushed her fear and her morbid thoughts to the side. Everything was going to be okay. Cloud didn't know they were here. By extension, neither did Sephiroth. It was okay. It was safe.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a shadow flitting over the lake. She turned quickly but nothing was there, just a ripple on the water.  
"Everything alright, Aer?" Tifa and Yuffie stood by the entrance, looking back at her.

She'd felt it… a whisper… She gave her head a good shake. She was being paranoid. "I'm fine. Let's go in."

At the altar, she prayed. She prayed for the planet. For all the living things on it, for her friends, for the future. She prayed for herself. And the planet responded. Like a cat uncurling from a long nap, and rubbing against her leg in affection. Like an old friend happy to see her and concerned about how she'd been. Like a volcano taking a deep breath before an explosion.

She felt Holy's energy swirl and swell. A shift on the slope, ready to build power, and become an avalanche. She let out a deep breath. Everything would be okay.  
A shadow flitted overhead and she jerked in surprise. One of the wraiths from the timestream wafted overhead. She couldn't help smirking at it. Things have changed.   
"Aerith!" Tifa barreled into her and they hit the ground, rolling right down the steps and into the water. 

She sputtered as she came up for air. What? _What?_

Sephiroth stood on the dais, blade drawn. 

Blood drained from her face. How? How had he known to come? Last time, he'd only learned her plans because she told Cloud. She glared at the wraiths. There were more of them now. They swirled around Sephiroth like smoke and scraps of ash. Had they gone and gotten him? Were they _his_ creatures? 

No, that wasn't right. They were _old_. Way too old to be anything of Sephiroth's. JENOVA's doing, then…? No, they were of the planet, just as she was. Why were they here?   
Yuffie pulled Aerith to her feet while Tifa took up a fighting stance. But neither of them looked at the whispers as they writhed in the air. Did they not see them?

She didn't have time to question it further. Sephiroth was speaking, moving. "Don't be sad. Soon you will be part of the planet's energy and live on through me."  
He shot forward, the wraiths like wings spread to either side of him. They pushed Tifa and Yuffie away so Sephiroth had clear access to her. Her barrier barely made it up in time. Masamune sent sparks flying from it. Sephiroth's eyes, slitted, glowing, and poisonous green, glittered with malice.

Firaga blossomed in her hand. "I won't let you destroy the world, or hurt my friends, anymore!" The flames ripped out from her, forcing both him and wraiths away.

He landed, causing hardly a ripple on top of the water. "Destroy? I'm saving it."

Then he was at them again. Tifa and Yuffie tried to fight while being pulled back by an enemy they couldn't see. It frustrated them and they blamed it on Sephiroth, cursing him. He didn't seem to care about the wraiths. She wasn't even sure if he saw them - he cut through them as he swung at her.

Then suddenly he turned. Masamune speared through Tifa as she rushed him. Aerith’s heart stopped. _No._ He wasn't supposed to kill them! The wraiths froze too, as if unsure what to do. Sephiroth took advantage of the moment.

Everything around her went still. The bubble’s sides rippled under the timestream’s pressure. That had been so much worse. How dare they. _How Dare They!_ It was their fault. Next time, she seethed, _next time_ she was going to smash the black materia as soon as her friends got it.

_Take me back!_

  
☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌

  
She stumbled as the ground shook below her, leaves raining in showers from the trees. 

Tifa caught her. “What’s happening?!”

Aerith wanted to hug her. To cry and apologize for last time, but the temple was shrinking at a rapid rate. As it receded into a crater, she pushed herself away from the fighter. Running forward, she grabbed her staff. “We need to smash it!”

The others shouted after her but she didn’t listen. She brought her staff down hard on the materia. Nothing happened, not even a crack. She raised her staff again. “If we break it, he can’t use it!”

The wraiths, like insidious whispers spoken in dark corners, came slithering through the air at her, pulling at her. _No! Not yet!_

Cid stepped up beside her, unaware of the whispers. “Girly’s got a point.” He struck the materia with his spear. Still it didn’t break.

Then Cloud was beside her. Good, he should be able to… 

She brought her staff up to block his strike at her, getting flung back from the stone.

“Cloud!”

She wasn’t sure who yelled his name. He stood in front of the materia, sword raised, protecting it. Shaking his head like he was in pain, he murmured, “He doesn’t want you to break it. I need to… I need…”

The wraiths, hissing, and screeching, swirled around him in a knot so dense she could barely see him. Why were they doing this? “Cloud, fight him! I know you can!”

“Good boy.” Sephiroth stood at the edge of the pit. “Bring it to me.”

“Not this time,” Aerith snarled. She ran forward, striking the whispers out of her way.

Cloud turned, slowly, slowly, like he was in a dream. He reached for the black materia at the same time she dove for it. It was heavy and cold as she wrapped her fingers around it.

“Bring it to me, Cloud.”

On her knees, she clutched the stone to her chest. He reached slowly down for her. She flinched, pushing herself away, trying to get her feet under her. “Wake up, Cloud, he’s in your head!”

Sephiroth sneered at her. “Troublesome girl.”

Cloud’s reaching hand wavered as she scrambled to her feet. Then, pain, hot and bright, as the buster sword went through her side. His eyes widened in horror as he woke up. “Aerith…”

“It’s okay, Cloud,” she gasped. “Next time will be different.” She sent a weak glare at the whispers as her strength faded. They were all frozen again, perhaps in shock. She wasn't sure why they cared if she got run through or not. _I’m going to keep trying, you bastards, and there is nothing you can do to stop me._   
  
_Okay, that hadn’t worked._ She floated in her bubble thinking of how to change things. Determination floated beside her as hope, imagination, and mischief darted about in a frenzy. Those whisper things were her enemy. They wanted her dead, and for some reason, they wanted to destroy the planet. Destroy… Maybe she could destroy the black materia before it became a materia. Was it possible to wreck the pedestal?

_Well, we won’t know until I try._

☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌

  
“This place isn’t safe.” Cloud stood next to the pedestal, inspecting it.

“You’re right.” She stepped forward and, with all her strength, bashed her staff into the miniature temple. The whole room shook as a pillar crumbled into pieces.

“What are you doing!?” both Tifa and Cloud exclaimed.

“Well, we already decided that we can’t leave it for Sephiroth to send someone to solve, so let’s just make it unsolvable.” She hit it again, sending another spray of stone to the floor.

They stared wide-eyed. Then… “I get it.” Tifa tugged her gloves down and took a fighting stance.

“Wait.” Cloud held up a hand. “What if we bring this place down on our heads?”

“Then we get to find out how fast we can run,” Aerith said, smashing the miniature again.

Tifa brought her hand down in a powerful chopping motion, destroying several rooms. Aerith heard and felt them collapse somewhere in the building. “I think it’s a good idea.”

“See. C'mon, Cloud, I’m sure that sword of yours will make this go a lot faster.”

He pulled the buster sword from his back, looking unsure. She took a deep breath and stepped to the opposite side of the pedestal, trying to look like she was only making room for him. She was really starting to dislike swords. That’s when the whispers showed up. Their dark gray forms writhed around the room, forcing them away from the pedestal.

"What! What's happening?" Tifa struggled, lashing out wildly at an invisible foe.

Dammit, they couldn't see them! How were they supposed to fight like this?

A wraith flung Aerith off her feet. Cloud caught her, then his arm went tense as wire around her. His voice was so low, she nearly missed it. "What are those things?"

Her head snapped up. "You can see them?"

"You do too?" His eyes widened, but some stiffness drained out of his shoulders. He seemed relieved as much as surprised.

How had… "Have you always been able to see them?" she demanded.

"No, just now, when I caught you, they were there."

"What's there? See what? What are you talking about?" Tifa punched at thin air, trying to fight.

“Tifa, don't worry about it, focus on the pedestal. We’ll hold them off.” Emboldened by Cloud being able to see them, she brought her staff up. _Alright, whispers, last time I played nice. But not anymore._

She channeled energy from a materia. Lightning crackled and snapped around her before lashing out across the room. The wraiths twisted away from the reaching electricity. She bashed one in the head and another in the arm as they tried to slide past her to get at Tifa. Then it clicked in her head. They weren't focusing on her, they were trying to protect the materia. They didn’t want time to change.

Anger flared in her chest. _You want it to all go the same as before._ Aerith poured more energy into her spells, upgrading from Thunder to Thundaga.

For her part, Tifa kept attacking the diorama on the pedestal, tumbling its outer walls down to the floor. With each hit more wraiths, like ants, boiled into the room. They began tugging on Aerith’s staff, at her dress, all over. One tangled itself into her hair, yanking. 

She cried out, trying to wiggle herself free before the thing ripped her hair out. Behind her, the whispers screeched towards Tifa, knocking her away from the pedestal. 

“Aerith! Tifa!” Cloud swatted the ones surrounding him away and charged to their aid. 

Still fighting with the one gripping her hair, she yelled, “Destroy the pedestal! Don’t worry about us!”

He hesitated for only a moment before he turned away. She saw his sword glow. Braver slammed into the miniature, cleaving the busted temple in half. One of the room’s walls came crashing down and sunlight streamed in.

Tears pricked in her eyes at how hard the whisper was pulling, but she didn’t care. “Yes!”

“My turn!” Tifa ran forward, having wrestled herself away from her captors.

There were too many whispers in Tifa’s way, she wasn’t going to make it. Ignoring the pain in her head, Aerith tossed out another thunder spell. The electricity stunned the whispers long enough for Tifa to deliver Meteodrive. The whole model began collapsing, walls toppling down like dominoes.

The grip in her hair slackened and she yanked free as the roof above them started to crumble. “That’s our cue.”

“Run!” Cloud grabbed both of them, dragging them towards the sunlight. 

They ran as fast as they could with the floor eroding beneath them. Stone turned to dust and mosaics fell to pieces around them. She caught sight of a large clawed hand vanishing under the falling debris, the demon wall forever buried.

She could see the others they had left outside, silhouetted against the haze, waving them on. As they reached the exit, Cid grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her out of the rubble as Barret helped Tifa. Vincent unceremoniously seized Cloud, tossing him clear.

Together they watched as the dust settled, the once grand temple now nothing but a pile of pitted stones. The whispers drifted listlessly over it in dismay. She smirked at them. The future was out of their grasp now. The others turned to her, Cloud, and Tifa for an explanation.

“What the hell happened in there?” Barret asked, flinging his hand toward the rubble.

Aerith shrugged. “We destroyed it.”

A voice, smooth as black silk, cut through the dusty air. “Useless puppet.”

Aerith rolled her eyes. Of course, he had to show up. “Oh, will you just shut up?”

“Sephiroth!” Cloud, coated in dust, was still ready to fight. “No more black materia, no more Meteor, no more godhood. Your delusion is over.”

“Delusion? No, my faithless puppet, yours is over.”

The clash of swords as the two warriors met was deafening. Sparks flew as Cloud was pushed back and outmaneuvered by the more experienced fighter. Sephiroth was serious, she realized. He wasn't toying with Cloud, he wanted to kill him.

A stick of dynamite forced them apart. "Don't just stand there like a bunch of fuckin’ lumps, jump in!"

Cid’s profanity broke their shock. Shuriken, bullets, and spells flew through the air, buying their close-range fighters time and space to get close or dance away as needed. They worked as a team, never letting up, and the whispers… the whispers watched.

Like macabre spectators at a race or sports game, they watched but didn't interfere. She tried not to let them distract her. Her nerves felt taut as guitar strings, waiting for the other shoe to drop, but as the last blow landed and Sephiroth faded away with a last scathing remark, the clone body he’d possessed dropping to the forest floor like a discarded doll, the whispers simply watched.

“Is that it? We win?” Yuffie panted, curing a burn on her calf.

Cloud shook his head. “No, that wasn’t the real him.”

“So, what the fuck now? Any ideas on what the bastard’s gonna do next?” Cid asked.

“…” Aerith turned her attention from the remaining whispers and blinked. She didn’t know. Laughter bubbled up in her throat and she had to lean on Cloud for support. She didn’t know the future! Without Meteor, what would happen? He would still do something, she was sure of that. And the whispers too. She could feel it - their resentment and disappointment would come out in retaliation.

Tifa had the same concern about Sephiroth. “I don’t trust him not to have a back-up plan. Or not to target us out of spite.”

“And there’s still Shinra and the reactors," Barret glowered.

"And whatever those wraiths were," Cloud added.

She wasn’t sure what to do about Shinra or the wraiths, but Sephiroth? “The last time something wounded the planet, it hit in the north, leaving behind the crater. There’s a lot of lifestream flowing around up there. If I were him, that’s where I would hide.”

“He's a big coward," Yuffie said. "Totally makes sense that he would hide someplace like that.”

Cloud was looking north with a distant expression. "Reunion," he muttered. Concern crept through Aerith on moth legs, but she said nothing. He'd broken here before, but today he'd held himself together and fought Sephiroth back. Maybe she could trust him this time.

He shook his head then turned back to them. “North it is, then.”

She really, really should have given more concern to Cloud and Sephiroth’s connection. “Cloud! Snap out of it!” she called, throwing up a hasty barrier. No sooner had the group set foot in the cavernous chamber that housed Sephiroth’s reforming body than Cloud lashed out at them. His eyes glowed a poisonous green.

“Shit, Spiky, you’re fighting the wrong fucking people again!” Barret barked.

He didn’t hear them. Couldn’t, past Sephiroth’s insidious whispers. And the whispers, oh, she hated them. The wraiths shielded him from their strikes and interfered in their defense. She knew what they were doing and she despised them for it. Red fell first, taking a powerful hit for Yuffie. The young ninja screamed as Cid and Tifa beat Cloud back. Their friend’s body lay on the stone floor, cut clean in two. 

Barret was next, his gun arm crushed and smoking, blood soaking the cover on his upper arm. “If you ever wake up, you’re gonna hate yourself, ain'tcha?” His words came out in sprays of his own blood. “But, Spiky, I ain’t blamin’ ya for having a screwy mind, I’m just gonna hate the man that screwed it.”

“Barret!” Tears pricked at her eyes. The bloom of her full cure faded without connecting as Cloud decapitated him with lightning speed.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this! It was supposed to be better! The whispers floated in the shadows, gloating. _You!_ she thought. _I will beat you!_

She lunged forward. She didn’t make any effort to block Cloud’s strike, taking it, letting the blade slice through her. Her final thought in that lifetime was, _You haven’t won yet!_

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The timestream was no peaceful, rushing river this time. The whispers were clawing at her bubble, ragged grey shapes denting it, trying to drag her out. The soul fragments floated around her like a halo. There were more of them now. Passion glowed with a fiery light between cunning and determination, casting them in a rosy hue. Spontaneity joined imagination and mischief’s chorus of crackles and pops.

 _You haven’t won yet,_ she said again, then dove out of the bubble. The whispers clawed at her in fury as she bowled past them. The soul fragments flickered and blazed, flying into the wraith’s hollow hoods, forcing them away. Hope flashed beside her. _Here!_

She broke out of the time stream, falling to her knees, gasping for air.

“Aerith! Are you okay?”

She looked up into Cloud’s concerned face. Red came and stood beside her, sniffing politely, as though to assess her health. “Um… sorry, just… what day is it?” She didn’t know when she was.

They shared a concerned look. “It’s Friday, why?”

“Right, Friday.” She stood up and dusted off her knees. They were along the pebbled north coast of the west continent. In a few hours, they would cross the sea. Nightfall would find them resting at Icicle Inn. A few days and they would be dead at the crater. 

“Umm, I had a thought.” More like, she was putting a thought together as she spoke. “Back at the temple…” She hated talking about personal problems and she knew Cloud did too, but this was something they needed to take care of. “Sephiroth kept kinda getting in your head.”

She could see Cloud shutting down, his face becoming blank. Normally, she would back off, tell him it was nothing, to forget it, but it wasn’t nothing. Now she forged ahead. “I think I know a way to get him out. Or at least a way that will help you block him.”

Tifa was turning away, her hands white-knuckled and tense. Aerith called after her, “And I’ll need your help, Tifa.”

Surprise loosened Tifa's pose. “What?”

“No," Cloud said flatly.

“It’s okay. I know it’s tough, but trust me on this, okay?” It took some convincing, but eventually, Cloud caved. Then she explained how she planned to do it, and that took a whole new round of convincing. But she couldn’t think of another way. Tifa was the only one who could do this, and neither she nor Cloud were Cetra. Mako was the only conduit that could open their minds to each other.

They headed towards Corel. Aerith remembered watching them find a materia cave there in the original timeline. It took four days of searching, but they found it again.  
“So, how does this work?”

“Well…” Last time, they had been dunked straight into the lifestream. With her acting as a guide this time, they probably wouldn’t need to go to such an extreme, but what dose did they need? And how to get it? She knew to drink the stuff was a bad idea and neither she nor Cloud would be willing to have an injection. So that left… “We could try sitting in it or laying down. Maybe rub it on ourselves.”

Tifa gave her a trying-not-to-seem-afraid look. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“I know it will work if we submerge ourselves, but we might get separated or poisoned, and who knows where we might come up,” she defended.

They all looked skeptical. Cloud looked green, and it wasn’t purely from the mako reflecting on his skin.

“Come on. Let’s just sit and meditate for a bit and see what happens.”

Cid harrumphed. “What’s gonna happen is y’all are gonna get mako poisonin’. I ain’t lookin’ after yer stupid, comatose asses.”

Tifa placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke softly. “You’re sure this is going to work?” 

No. “Yes.”

“Okay.” Tifa gave her a small smile, then walked over to where the mako pooled under a pile of rocks. She started moving the stones out of the way. 

Aerith went to help her. Mako stung her fingers, hot and cold, like holding on to ice too long. She ignored it. Eventually, they cleared enough rocks to make a small pool that they could rest their feet in. “Okay, that should be good.”

She removed her boots and socks, setting them to the side to stay dry. Tifa followed her actions. “Come on Cloud, it’s not going to be that bad. Think of it like going to a spa.”

He made a face before sighing and coming over. His boots and socks joined theirs and he reluctantly stepped into the pool. Taking a deep breath, Aerith did the same. At first it was just like with her hands, too hot, too cold, a snap of electricity. But as she fought through the sensations she could feel herself drifting, easing into the lifestream.

It felt… It felt like coming home. She had been in the lifestream so long that it was easy to move about. Distantly, she could hear Tifa and Cloud call her name. They sounded so far away. Reaching out mentally and maybe even physically, she didn’t know, she grabbed hold of their hands.

_It’s okay, let go, trust me._

She could feel their reluctance, the physical pain still a top concern. 

_You can let go, I’ll guide you._

Cloud let go first and she held him to her, not letting him slip away in the current. Focusing, she pulled him into her field of flowers, everything quiet and calm. _There you are, silly. See? It’s okay._

He grumbled a bit but stayed by her side, not pulling away. She wasn’t sure how long it took for Tifa to join them, as time was different here, but eventually, she felt her give in and fall into the lifestream. Aerith reached out and caught her. _And we’re all back together. Not so bad, is it?_

Tifa looked around the field of yellow and white lilies. _This is the lifestream?_

_It’s my little corner of it._ She sat down and patted the ground beside her. _I’ll be your anchor, but now it’s up to you two._

Tifa sat beside her, drawing Cloud down with her. _Alright. What now?_

 _Now… Think back to when you were little, the first memories you share together. Work forward from there._

Tifa sighed, gripped Cloud’s hand tighter and flopped back into the flowers. The motion must have been important, because as Tifa fell back, Aerith felt their spirits fall deeper into memories. _Well, Tifa, it’s up to you now._

Aerith sat in her field making flower crowns, every now and again reaching out to make sure they could find their way back to her. All was going well, then she was back in the timestream. The whispers were screaming around her bubble. Wait, what? What had happened? Everything had been going so well!

She turned her glare on the whispers. _What did you do?_ she seethed.

Passion and mischief flared indignantly while hope sagged beside her. _Shinra Scarlet Whispers Death_

The silver light emanating from the cunning fragment reflected against the whispers’ empty cloaks. Determination blazed beside her. _Not over_

It had almost worked. She needed a more secure location, someplace Shinra couldn’t find them. Coiling herself, she blasted from the bubble, planning to bowl past them like last time, but there were more of them now. Pulling, dragging, clawing. They were trying to shred her, stop her from interfering. 

More soul fragments flickered around her. She didn’t know who, but their light and emotions helped. With a final push from headstrong and helpful, she broke free. She saw the time she wanted when she’d just convinced Cloud and Tifa to try and they were thinking of a location. She lunged but was pulled back by a wraith.

It flung her back and she screamed in frustration. They tussled in the timestream, rolling over each other until she was able to summon her staff. Beating it over the head, she forced it away and dove back to life.

  
  
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A narrow green leaf spun down through the air in front of her. She blinked. Tall red walls topped with green tiles surrounded the courtyard she sat in.

“Then I was like, _bam_ , and this SOLDIER guy just fell over. And - hey! Aerith, are you even listening to me?”

“Huh? What?”

“Don’t go zoning out when the white rose of Wutai is talking to you. Rude.”

She remembered this, sort of. She was sitting in a garden drinking tea with Red and Cait Sith (who wasn’t actually drinking) and listening to stories of Yuffie’s exploits. It wouldn’t be long before Cloud came to get them and they started chasing after the keystone. That meant… She looked at Cait Sith. No one knew he was a spy yet. Hmm, it was still too soon to trust Reeve. That would make things difficult.

Wait! If they were still going after the keystone, that meant the black materia still existed! Her stomach clenched and a cold tremor passed through her. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“What?! Eeeew! Getaway!”

Red pushed to his feet. “Are you not feeling well, Aerith? Should I get a doctor?”

“Ah’m sure we can talk to the others an’ stay another day or so if ye need,” Cait Sith offered.

“Not that sort of sick, just…” She flopped back, spilling her tea. “I hate the whispers.” 

Turning her head, she could see the tips of their tattered cloaks in the shadows. She jumped to her feet and yelled at them. “I hate you! Do you hear me? I hate you and I’m not stopping, I’m going to keep fighting, keep trying until we all get a happy ending. And your only options are to give up or get out of my way!”

She sat down in a huff and poured herself another cup of tea. The others stared at her in concern.

“Uhh, Aer? You okay? Cause you're shouting at empty air.”

Right, they couldn't see them. “The whispers of fate want a tragic ending, I want a happy one. We’re fighting about it.”

“Aerith?” Cloud appeared around a bend in the path, walking past lushly manicured topiaries. “I heard shouting. Is everything okay?”

“The whispers won’t leave me alone and I hate them. Also, I overheard the Turks talking, and I think I might know where Sephiroth is.” 

☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌

  
  
She honestly didn’t know why she’d said that. Frustration, maybe. Of course Cloud and Tifa had wanted to go after him immediately. She floated in her bubble, listening to the whispers scream and rage outside it. She’d known the party wasn’t strong enough to fight him. She’d focused so much of her energy on helping them get stronger, she had totally neglected to get Sephiroth out of Cloud’s head.

If the whispers weren’t so busy screeching, they would probably be laughing at her for making the same mistake twice. Leaning forward, her nose nearly pressed against the bubble, she stared into the empty hood of a whisper. It flowed and shed pieces of itself like sand, or ash in a breeze, but never lost its shape. She had once found it horrifying to look at them. Now all she felt was anger and annoyance.

_As soon as the bubble pops, you’re going to attack me. But I’m going to get away, go back to my body, and screw up your plans. Again._

She leaned back and the soul fragments circled around her in a defensive barrier. There were thirteen of them now: determination, passion, stubborn, helpful, selfish, and impatient formed the outer defense. Cunning, imagination, mischief, adventure, patience, and flexibility were the second line. Hope stayed as her companion.

The bubble burst as she forged backward through the timestream. Whether the soul fragments were getting stronger or if it was just that there were more of them, the whispers weren’t able to touch her before she dove back into the garden with Yuffie. The princess was looking at her in concern.

“Aerith?” Cloud appeared around a bend in the path, walking past lushly manicured topiaries. “I heard shouting. Is everything okay?”

She took a sip of her tea, stalling. “Sephiroth…” she started slowly. “He likes to mess with us.”

The whispers poured into the garden. The others didn't react at all to their appearance. She’d started thinking of them as the whispers of fate since they seemed to think they controlled it. Sighing, she took another sip of her tea before she stood. Now how was it that Cloud had seen them before…? Oh, right.

She reached out and set a hand on his shoulder. Immediately he tensed, hand reaching for the buster sword's hilt. "What are those things?"

"What things? I don't see anything." Yuffie looked around wildly.

Aerith tapped Yuffie and Red on the shoulders as well. 

The ninja leaped to her feet, drawing her shuriken. "What the hell are those?!"

Nanaki stayed calmer, though his tail lashed in sudden agitation. "Some call them the arbiters of fate. They are said to appear when someone tries to change destiny." He glanced at her with interest.

Arbiters of fate? “I've been calling them whispers, and they are just!” She threw her hands up, gesturing with the teacup. “The biggest pains in my side!” She looked down at Red. “How do you know about them?"

"When you touched me, the knowledge was there."

Okay, that was something new to think about, but it was low on her immediate priority list. "They don’t want me to talk about this but," she turned to Cloud, "Sephiroth’s in your head.”

Cloud stayed facing away from her, hand still on the Buster Sword’s hilt, ready to draw. “I’m fine. You and these things don’t have to worry about it.”

She held down a choked laugh. “They aren’t worried about it, they want him there. They want you to hurt, and for me to die. And that is most definitely not _fine_.”

“What!? These things wanna kill you?” Yuffie swung her shuriken into a more aggressive stance.

She wasn't sure, but if she had to guess... “Not yet. But at the appointed time.”

“I don’t care what they want. I promised Elmyra I’d get you home safe, and I can handle Sephiroth on my own.”

 _But you won’t, Cloud. You’ll try, you’ll try as hard as you can, but until you’re free from him, I’ll never be able to fully trust you._ She bent and set her teacup down, grabbed her staff, dusted her off her skirt, and swung. “Let’s finish this conversation later, without an audience.”

“Yeah! Ghost-butt-kicking time!” Yuffie let her shuriken fly.

Aerith set out a domed ward of magic, helping her allies fight more efficiently from inside it. Red dashed past her to rip and tear at a whisper’s cloak. She had to wonder, watching, how much misfortune were these things responsible for? Had they influenced Hojo? Did they have something to do with the genocide of Nanaki’s species? The extinction of the Cetra? Had they brought JENOVA to the planet in the first place? What exactly were the whispers of fate, and why did they want the world to go down such a dark path, where everyone suffered?

Why couldn’t there be a happy ending? The twisting branches of the timestream surely held other options. 

Bashing the last of the whispers away for now, she turned to Cloud. She put her shoulders back. She didn’t like pushing like this - she knew how much she hated it when people tried it on her. “It’s okay to not be okay. Or to need help. I know how to help.”

Cloud remained skeptical, insisting that he was fine. And why wouldn’t he? The worst hadn’t happened yet. So far he’d always been able to fight off Sephiroth, or at least his blatant manipulations. The subtle control was always there. But he hadn’t lost control yet, not yet.

And what could she tell him? That it was a guarantee that he would? That if they did nothing, either he or Sephiroth would kill her? That Sephiroth’s connection to Cloud would

keep him in existence, never as gone as they hoped? That Cloud would be trapped fighting him for the rest of his life? Hurting him like that was the last thing she wanted to do, but she also was sick and tired of dying. 

In the end, it was an impasse.

She wasn’t willing to tell them about the future and the horrors that awaited. And Cloud wasn’t willing to admit he had a problem that needed addressing, let alone get into a mako bath and let someone into his head. Still, she wasn’t going to follow the whispers’ plans.  


She waved from the dock as Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie, and Cait Sith set sail for the West Continent and the Gold Saucer. She wondered who Cloud would take on a date there if anyone. “See you in a few weeks!” she shouted.

“Well, girly, ya said ya weren’t gonna go look for that fuckin’ keystone. Ya don’t seem the type to kick back on yer haunches and wait, though, so what’s yer plan?”

She turned to Cid, Red, and Vincent. The three who’d stayed with her. “Oh, I was the wait-y type for a long while, but then I learned that waiting wasn’t good enough. You’re right, I do have a plan. And the first thing on the list…” Her smile grew as she looked them over. Red was, aside from Tifa, probably her closest friend in the group - she was glad he’d stayed with her. Vincent had stayed because Cloud asked him to. Cid… well, he was new to the party, and she’d never known him as well as she did some of the others. His motivations were a mystery to her, but she was glad he was here too. He gave her access to a plan.

“First, we steal the Highwind.”

  
Airship? Check. Knights of the Round? Check. Mastered mime, sneak attack, and deathblow materia? Check. Plenty of buffs and debuffs? Check. A whole lot of intense level grinding? Check. Bonus points: awarded for killing Hojo.

All in all, the assault she led on the crater was a success. They were injured and exhausted by the end. Sephiroth wasn’t at his full strength or his final form, but he was still a tough fight. The only reason they probably survived was that her magic and healing skills were off the chart at this point. Magical ability was connected to the soul, after all, and hers had spent decades accruing knowledge in the lifestream. 

But something didn’t feel right. The lifestream was restless, and not just because Shinra was still draining mako from it. The whispers, the fuck-ugly-undead-drama-queens as Cid called them, didn’t seem that distressed either.

Sure, Sephiroth would likely come back, but she’d pushed that off by a good amount. Maybe Cloud had already given him the black materia? No. She would sense if Meteor had been summoned, and the lifestream wasn’t in an uproar the way it would be if that had happened. It was just unsettled. And yet… she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong.

She’d sent texts to Cloud’s group on occasion, checking in. Not quite telling them what she was up to, but keeping in touch. So far, things seemed to be going okay. Reeve changed sides and became a double agent for them. Cloud won some chocobo races and starred in the Gold Saucer’s play (he wouldn’t say what role he’d got, or who he took with him). They managed to get the keystone before Tseng did - apparently, the party splitting in two had Shinra running in circles. They helped Fort Condor successfully repel another Shinra assault.

Now she sent him another text. [Don’t be mad but we just beat Sephiroth] 

After a second she added, [The real one]

Then added, [I made sure to land a hit for you and Tifa]

It was around an hour later aboard the Highwind when she learned what was wrong. Cloud texted her back, but it wasn’t Cloud. 

[The puppet has served his purpose.] With the message came a photo. She could barely look at it: blood and the torn bodies of her friends. 

Her PHS chirped with another message. [He makes a good vessel. Allow me to thank you for this body.]

Without a body to hold it, Sephiroth’s will had smothered Cloud’s. She was going to be sick.

“Aerith? What has happened?” Red padded up beside her. “Are the others okay?”

Tears stung her eyes and she shook her head. “No. Something terrible has happened. I didn’t… It wasn’t… I need some air.”

She left the confines of the airship, walking out into the wind of the open observation deck. They were flying south to meet up with the others. She screamed and the wind whipped it away. She loved flying, she found. She wanted to stand up here holding hands with Tifa and laugh as their hair tangled together. She wanted to tease Cloud when he got airsick and tuck him into a bunk with some anti-nausea medication and a glass of water. She wanted Barret to point out landmarks and tell her about the area they were flying over, listen to his voice full of his love for the planet. She wanted to go on adventures with them all. She wanted to live.

Planting a foot on the railing, she leaped off the ship.

  
She didn’t spend any time thinking in the bubble, but plunged into the timestream, a comet trail of soul fragments behind her. Back. She was going back. No more Sephiroth in Cloud’s head, no more tragedy. She was going to change everything. The whispers twisted and grabbed but she weaved past them. Past stealing the Highwind, past Wutai and Yuffie’s shenanigans, past Rocket Town and Corel, past the Gold Saucer, Nibelheim, Junon, Kalm, the Sector 7 plate, Wall Market, the first reactor explosion, -

They finally caught hold of her, flinging her guard of soul fragments far away. Terror and pain, unlike anything a living body could understand ripped through her as the swirling mass of whispers encased her. Like a macabre feeding frenzy, they tore into her soul. Aerith tried to shield herself, tried to fight, but there were too many around her, no room, no time. Tattered pieces of her soul were tossed like confetti into the timestream, lost, gone.

There were no words to describe it when it happened. One second, she was whole. The next, she had lost herself, torn in half. A gaping wound where no wounds could exist.

Was she… was… who...

  
The whispers of fate left the broken soul adrift in the time stream, certain it could do no more damage. 

  
Hope flickered, as did passion, determination, and mischief. Stubborn, selfish, curiosity, and flexibility gathered again. Cunning, helpful, bold, timid, spontaneous, adventurous, patient, and impatient. All of them were there. They always had been.

Time twisted, split, doubled back, and most of all, continued. How long did the fragments drift, waiting to become whole again? Slowly they eased into the split souls, creating one whole soul in two places.

Aerith drifted back to herself, into herself. She was in a bubble. There were no soul fragments, but she wasn't alone. There was another bubble slightly downstream, and another Aerith looked out from it. 

_Well, I don't know how I feel about this._

_You're me. And I'm you._

_Those fragments were us._

_But we're not the same anymore, are we?_

_No._ She grinned. _But I'm sure we both have some mischief in us._

_Double trouble?_

Around them, the timestream rippled and divided, forming two rivers.

_Let's split their attention._

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One fell into life right before the Sector One reactor bombing. 

Aerith laid in her bed thinking for a minute, taking stock, before she sat up and looked out her window. In the garden, a whisper lazily drifted above the flowers. Did it know that she was here? That her soul was from the future? Was it keeping an eye on things, making sure she played her part?

She thought back to the play at the Gold Saucer. Well, she most certainly knew how to play a part. Until now she had tried to make big changes. What would happen if she could just tweak things? Make small, tiny adjustments that would stack up over time?

She got up, went about her routine as best she could remember it. She brushed her hair until the curls shone and tended to her garden. Talking to the flowers settled her and it was nice to just live for a moment. She did her other chores around the house next. Elmyra gave her a slightly suspicious look, making Aerith's heart beat fast. Had she - Then she realized that, back then, she'd always tried to slip away to the church after doing the 'fun' chore of gardening. She shrugged and kept whistling as she hung linens on a clothesline. Sweeping and laundry were much easier than saving the world.

Elmyra only commented on the long hug Aerith gave her. "You're peppy today."

Aerith smiled and said simply, "It's a good day to be alive."

The whispers were suspicious, though, maybe. More and more gathered around her house, swooping around her garden. In the afternoon she gathered a basket of flowers and headed above-plate, the whispers dogging her footsteps. On the train, one nearly brushed against her and she flinched.

They all went still. They knew she could see them now. Well, there went the 'play it perfectly normal' idea, but she could still fill her role. She swatted and flinched each time they got near her like she'd never seen them before and was trying not to make a scene in public.

Selling flowers with them around was not an experience she wanted to repeat. And if she didn't remember the exact spot she had met Cloud before, well, the whispers were more than willing to push her there. She purposefully reached out to him, touching him so he could see them. When the troopers showed up, she ran off. Now wasn't the time to make a big change.

While waiting for him to fall into the church, she did acquire a Prayer and Refocus Materia. Might as well get started on her magic training. And if the whispers were unhappy about it, they let her get away with it. She saw some slither their way past towards Sector Seven, and she hoped her friends were okay.

It didn't take long for Reno to show up after Cloud fell through the roof, as expected. What wasn't expected and was much less welcome (not that Reno was welcome either), were the whispers. They were definitely intent on keeping things the same as in the original.

She only made little changes, having Cloud go with her on delivery and join her for other small errands. Besides, it was fun to tease him. The way he accepted the flower basket when she handed it to him made her laugh and when he'd stopped her from telling her mom about the date, she smiled fondly at how shy he could be. 

She was also less concerned about hiding things, especially about being a Cetra. She dropped hints, here and there, while keeping a wary eye out for the whispers. And when a clone showed up, she knew this time that he wasn't drunk or sick. She ran over when he collapsed, wondering if there was a way she could help, but Sephiroth's consciousness showed too quickly.

As she watched the clone stumble away, she wondered who they had been before Hojo got his claws on them. It also brought up the unpleasant truth of the strength of Sephiroth's will. Destroying his reforming body hadn't weakened him. Multiple deaths hadn't weakened him. Surely something could.

When she talked to the flowers later, an old habit she took comfort in, she could feel the planet listening. There was something there, something just beyond what she could hear. Yellow flowers… The words, feelings were still too faint. _I'll stay listening, for when you're ready to tell me._

When Cloud tried to sneak out in the night, she led him the long way back to Sector 7. Nothing major, just little changes, she reminded herself. Like slowly weighting a scale. The high fives he failed to give her were a good reminder that change took time and perseverance.

At the playground, she was quick to climb up the domed slide, and when Cloud followed, she scooted to sit beside him. Whether he liked it or not, he did better with a support system. The sooner those supports were built, the stronger they would be for when he needed them. 

They sat in silence for a while as she thought. Last time, she’d asked about Zack. The Buster Sword had made her hope that Cloud could tell her what happened to him. Should she ask about him this time? Cloud didn’t remember, and she couldn't save Zack anyway. He was already in the lifestream. Maybe the other her, who was going farther back, would do something.

"So, Cloud… you were a SOLDIER first class, right?" She decided to press forward. She didn’t want to break down the walls in his mind, but a little nudge couldn't hurt.

Aerith held back a wince when it turned out she was wrong. When she said Zack’s name, Cloud flinched, clutching at his head.

"Hey, are you okay?" 

He recovered and she leaned in to peer at him. The name hadn't stuck, she thought. _Oh, Cloud. You’re a mess._

Up close, his eyes reminded her of Zack. Blue, blue. So did his response, when she mentioned them. Why did she keep falling for SOLDIERs? 

Realization and a little embarrassment hit her. Cloud was a lot younger than her now, and it wasn't fair that she knew more about him than he did himself. Add in that she had plans for him that he wasn't privy to? Hastily, she climbed down from the slide. She was going to need some time to sort that mess out. 

Distractedly, she cleared aside some debris, purposefully left there to hide a sector-connecting tunnel from Shinra. She looked at Cloud as she crawled back out. Had they taken too long getting here? Should she stall and hope Tifa came by, or let him go?

"So," they both said at the same time, causing her to laugh. It would be okay, she decided. He would find out where Tifa had gone when he got back to Seventh Heaven.  
However, as he was about to leave, the gates to Sector Seven opened and a chocobo carriage came through. They hadn't missed her! She couldn't see well from her angle, but it was definitely Tifa inside, even if her dress was different from what Aerith remembered. Her hands made brief fists, a silent shout of triumph. Her changes were taking hold.  
Cloud was worried, but he trusted Tifa to be able to look after herself. Aerith knew differently and persuaded him to follow her lead. At the Don's, you wanted all the backup you could get.

She made a few tweaks to the plan as they went into Wall Market. They had gotten lucky last time, getting in the unofficial way, without a sponsor. Time for another small change. The experience ended up a good distraction. For a few short hours, she didn't worry about the Arbiters, the timestream, the deaths of her friends, or the end of the world. She just had fun.

She had never known Cloud was good at dancing! She would have to take him out dancing later, once things weren’t so urgent. The Gold Saucer or Costa del Sol must have dance floors. And the dress! The corset, makeup, braids! Blue and black was absolutely a better color combo for him than plain lilac.

Together, they made a very attractive pair. She amended that when they finally got into the mansion and she got a proper eyeful of Tifa. They were a very attractive _trio_. 

The don was as sleazy as ever. She couldn't take offense that he chose Cloud again because first, she was glad it wasn't her, and second, Cloud looked much better this time. When she and Tifa were ‘given over’ to Corneo’s boys - which, _gross_ \- it was easy to fight beside Tifa, just like it had been with Cloud. Thankfully, neither of them questioned how well she settled into their combat rhythm. Not fighting Corneo's men, or against Abzu. The poor creature living and running off was a new twist, as was the passageway it created when it busted through the wall. New roads and second chances. 

"Do you think he was telling the truth?"

And there was that. Sector Seven and the upcoming plate fall. The reality of everything she was doing crashed in around her, washing away the fun she'd had in Wall Market with the cruelty of fate. It was too soon to make a large change, to stop the plate's fall or save herself from Shinra. She would need to let herself be taken, let those people die.   
She hated it. Hated the Arbiters. She hadn’t seen any for a few hours, but she knew better than to think that they weren’t watching. Maybe her other self would be able to stop the platefall in her time.

But as they made their way through the sewers, she _hoped_ . She couldn't help it. She was a hopeful person. Maybe things had changed enough to where they could save it. She worked at reassuring Tifa and herself that everything was going to be okay. That after tonight they would go topside together.

Tifa wanted to go shopping in the fine stores above plate. They could bring Cloud to carry all their stuff. She indulged in daydreaming. What would she do if the future changed, if they could just hang out? 

But things were never that easy. A Shinra helicopter zooming overhead, headed for the pillar, reminded her of that. Beside the whispers, there were still Shinra and Sephiroth to deal with. She had a lot of problems to juggle. 

At the train graveyard, without her even looking for it, a change happened. Glowing graffiti: _Come on_. That was new. A tingle of excitement went through her like an electric flash. "I'm game!"

Tifa and Cloud were more resistant.

"But…" Tifa hesitated, and she had to reassure her again. And nudge her forward, just a bit. Aerith still wasn't sure what to do with her own feelings for Cloud, complicated by years and knowledge and other loves, but she knew Tifa, without a little pushing, would hang back and maybe miss her opportunity altogether.

Aerith latched playfully onto Cloud's arm. "Mine," she chirped. It did the trick. Tifa grabbed his other arm. 

Playing with the ghost children was hard, in more ways than one. They were the spirits of kids who had died in the Slums. Some had been there a while, others were from the collapse of the Sector Six plate. She smiled and spoke gently to them while shivers crawled up and down her arms.

The lifestream here was stagnant. It reminded her of the Gi spirits in Cosmo Canyon, or of the pollution geostigma’s victims had brought into the lifestream with their deaths. Loneliness, resentment, grief, and fear swirled through the empty trains and storehouses. Something was trapping the spirits here. In the end, though, all these children wanted was _relief_ from their fear. Playing with them literally lightened their spirits. She felt many of them leave, drifting into the lifestream.

When they were almost out of the graveyard, another piece of glowing graffiti appeared, as did another ghost. No, not a ghost, a flicker of memory or thought. Surrounded not by lifestream, but by timestream. It looked like Marlene. Was this an image from a different time? Were the two rivers converging?

She was distracted as they fought their way onward, worry building up in her mind. She was trying for something good here. What if it blew up in her face again? While she was looking at the big picture, what small things would slip through the cracks? What if the Marlene-ghost was an echo of the future, if Aerith didn't manage to save her from the collapsing plate? When they heard the Turks over the radio, discussing the attack on the pillar, the breath in her lungs caught with an unspeakable ache.

Her unhappy thoughts made her an easy target for the dark wind and she was swept away from her friends. She came to, and ghosts appeared around her. They were frightened, hesitant... kind. Some sort of empathy stretched through the air between them and her, fragile as a spider's web.

And as easily broken. They fled as the Eligor appeared. She could feel the hatred and greed flowing from it, nauseating. _It_ was keeping the ghosts trapped, preventing them from entering the lifestream as they ought. Darkness swirled around her as she struggled to speak. "You're.. you're the one who..." Her voice trailed away. A memory of when she was a child came to her. It was one of the first times she'd gone out to play with the other slum kids. They were playing hide and seek. No one had found her.

 _That's right, I've always been alone. The last Cetra. And now I have to save everyone on my own. But I can't do it, she wanted to cry. The plate has to drop to keep the Arbiters away, and I have to let myself be captured by Shinra. The only reason we're even here right now is because I'm stalling. I don't want this night to happen. I don't want them all to die, I don't want to be all alone._ But if she was willing to let it happen, did she even deserve to be found?

"Aerith!" Cloud grabbed her, dragging her out of the way of screeching metal as the Eligor reappeared. 

Tifa knelt beside her, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, we found you."

"I guess you did." Her pulse fluttered in her wrists, alive, alive, and she smiled softly at them both. She wanted to hug them close to her, to cry and apologize. _I'm sorry for stalling. Sorry for not being honest. But thank you. For all the times you've followed after me and found me, when I've been taken or I've run away._

She couldn't say any of it. They wouldn't understand. She took up her staff instead and helped them defeat the monster. When the whispers got in their way, she didn't roll over and accept them delaying her. They could slow her down, but she wasn't going to be placid. She'd stack these little changes up until they grew into big ones.

As proof that the changes were taking hold, Wedge survived his fall from the pillar. Cloud and Tifa went on ahead while she healed him. She hadn't had the chance to know him last time, but in just a few minutes of talking with him, she knew he was _such_ a caring person. So when he started to doubt himself, she tried to encourage him, but he caught her out.

"You don't think we're gonna stop them from dropping the plate, do you?"

Her mouth worked while she searched for words. He was empathetic in a way she hadn't been the first time around. She knew saving the plate was hopeless. Shinra was just toying with them, putting on a show.

But… "I don't want to look back one day and wish I'd done it differently." She wanted to get it right this time. No more redos. Each time she went back, she lost the experiences she'd had with her friends. It made her feel separate from them, alienated, when she knew so much about them and they didn't know her. She didn't want the gap to keep growing. And if there was any chance of sparing them some pain, she wanted to fight for that. The big picture still mattered, but she didn't want to sacrifice the small things for the greater good. She wanted _everyone_ to be okay.

She knew Marlene and the way to Seventh Heaven. Wedge was making a difference, so could she. Last time she'd gone straight for Marlene, but this time she warned the neighborhood watch on her way and watched them fan out, organizing an evacuation. Each time her path to the bar was blocked, she helped those around her as she looked for another route. When she finally reached the bar, she found Marlene hiding under the counter.

"Hey," she smiled. "You must be Marlene."

After some coaxing, the little girl came out crying. Aerith tried to console her. She couldn't say everything was going to be okay, because it wasn't, but Barret would come back and that would have to be enough. She remembered the confident young woman this girl would become. Focusing, she tried to draw some of that confidence out.

Marlene stopped crying and pulled back to look at her. Aerith raised a finger to her lips before standing and offering her hand. The girl sniffled and Aerith could see the overwhelming fear from earlier leaving her. A few more tears fell, but she received a real hug this time, not a desperate clinging.

"You smell like our flower."

"Oh?"

Marlene let go of her hand and pointed to the lily Aerith had given Cloud, set in a vase on the bar counter. She smiled. So that's where it had ended up.

"Ready to go?" She held out her hand. The girl's small hand was only able to wrap around two of her fingers.

The helicopter drone from overhead got abruptly louder, shaking the windows and rattling the walls. So it was time. Marlene hid behind her as Tseng entered the bar.

"Before you say another word," he sneered, "know that your options are limited."

He was early. Last time she'd managed to get Marlene to her home before he showed up. At least it was still Tseng, and not a different Turk. He had no conscience and she didn't recognize what he called morals, and she'd never rely on him for anything, but he could be kind occasionally, in small ways. "Let's make a deal," she said.

She watched as Tseng gave a pair of troopers orders to take the girl away to Sector Five, to Elmyra's house. He took away her staff and her materia, then offfered her a hand up into the helicopter waiting outside. She didn't take it. She didn't want to do this. Wanted the night to be over. Waiting for her on the other side of this helicopter ride wasn't only Shinra Tower and a prison cell, but Hojo. A personal nightmare to her, and so many other people.

Tseng didn't take them near the pillar. The helicopter rose, going straight above the plate. _No_ … Dread filled her. The others wouldn't know… They wouldn't know what had happened to her. They'd find out eventually, she was sure, but how long would it take? How long would she have to wait? There was no window in the aircraft and the door was closed. She wished she could see them, even just the flash of gunfire and magic to show they were still fighting. She clenched her hands in her lap. She didn't get airsick, but her nerves made her nauseous.

She should have expected this kind of change. Thinking that she could pick and choose, that everything would go her way, was unrealistic. It was the thinking of an Arbiter. She didn't want a stagnant river, a timestream that only flowed one way. The river should flow on twisting and turning, with eddies and ripples forming based on people's choices and actions, not a script. That meant she would have to pay the price of things going differently than she wanted.

At headquarters, Tseng made a detour, instead of taking her straight to the science department, to Hojo. They stopped at a monitor where he could talk to, taunt, really, AVALANCHE. For a moment he even allowed her to tell them that Marlene was safe before having her taken away. 

It was a distraction at least, trying to think of his reasons for it, instead of what was waiting for her. He didn't know they were going to survive the plate collapse. Maybe it was one of his small kindnesses, letting them know Marlene was safe, letting her see them for what he thought was the last time. Or maybe he was being kinder than she thought, and setting up a gambit where she could slip away again. He'd let her slip nets before. A group as reckless as AVALANCHE would certainly come for her, if they survived the night, and maybe save her from Hojo. Tseng could deny any errors in his procedure - it wouldn't be his fault she got free.

Or then again, she thought, looking over her shoulder at him as troopers led her away, there could be no kindness in it at all. If reckless AVALANCHE did somehow survive, he'd have baited them directly into the belly of the beast, where they could be stomped on at the company's convenience.

Her distracted thoughts died like ice cubes in the Corel desert during summer. The lab doors and cool metal sterility of Shinra's science department swallowed her up. Childhood memories, fears, terrors flooded her mind. One shuddering breath, another. Footfalls on metal, a static funeral dirge. 

"Welcome, my dear. My, you've grown." Hojo. On the steps. Walking toward her.

Bile choked her, rising up her throat in an acidic burn. The muscles in her legs trembled with the urge to run. She stayed quiet and walked placidly past him, not looking at him, to an open glass cell. Her cell. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. At least when the door slid shut there was a wall between them. A barrier he couldn't touch her through. It was an illusion of security, a false shield. But she needed it. She would take even a false shield.

Her urge was to turn her back to him, but he would only laugh and taunt her. She had been afraid of him last time. She still was, but she sat and faced him. He was a monster, but she was more than just his prey, an experiment, the last Cetra. 

This oily man with a face like a melting frog terrified her, but she was more than her fear. She was Aerith Gainsborough, local flower girl, the girl who'd caught the eye and heart of two SOLDIERs, who'd befriended the princess of Wutai and the last of the great cats, a species as ancient as her mother's. She'd convinced Cloud to wear a dress twice, had fought against Sephiroth and won, had helped steal the Highwind airship out from under Shinra's nose. She had cured the planet of a plague. Had traveled the world in life and death. 

Her mouth twitched. She had watched the creep in front of her die at least three times.

She was strong. She was competent. He could not break her.

He was speaking, still. Raving, she would say. Something about her misunderstanding his intentions. _Misunderstanding, my ass,_ she thought. She knew everything about him already. He didn't care about Shinra, about riches, or people, or the planet, he only cared about science. And he wasn't even a good scientist - he tossed aside any evidence that didn't fit his pet theories, doctoring facts until they fit his world view. Her father had been a scientist. Hojo was nothing but a quack.

He would never accept the reality: that there had been no pure-blooded Cetra for more than a century. That being a Cetra was about lifestyle as much as biology. That humans had been Cetra, too, millenia ago, until they stopped listening to the planet. That his twisted theories were only fantasies and the only successes he'd ever had were because he'd stolen someone else's work.

"Would you like to see your mother? Albeit through the lens of one of my microscopes?" 

Her fingers clenched in her lap.

Sick, twisted bastard. 

Hojo continued to taunt her, making her skin crawl. She felt like an insect pinned under a microscope, but she sat quietly, insulting him in her head as she waited for her friends to come to rescue her. The knowledge that they _would come_ , however long it took, buoyed her through the torment, all the way until Hojo left for a meeting. She permitted herself to crumple then, for a few minutes, bent over her knees, hands pressed to her face, choking down her sobs.

Aerith didn't know how long she sat there after that, trying not to think, not to feel. Long enough that the tears on her cheeks dried and the thunderstorm pressure in her sinuses faded. Finally, guards rushed in. She jumped to her feet, clapping her hands together with relief.

These people were _hers._ She couldn't wait to get out and join them, impatient during the whole fight. She gloated as they trash-talked the professor and as they easily defeated the guards he said would be more than enough to deal with them. Really, he knew nothing at all about her capabilities or theirs.

But - he did know other things. Cloud's past, especially. When he said, "My boy, you weren't a SOLDIER," her heart leapt into her throat. Telling Cloud that would change everything. Words clogged the back of her mouth, but she didn't know what she wanted to say. _Shut up! Or... Just spit it out, you old kook!_ But it was too late. The whispers appeared and carried the horrid man away.

Everything could have changed right then. 

"Stand back." Barret shot the lock on her cell, short-circuiting the door. She was out, she was free. She nearly hugged them all - would have, if those armored soldiers hadn't shown up. Unarmed, with no materia, she stayed out of the way during the fight.

Cloud started walking away. "Let's get out of here." 

Tifa smiled at her and passed over her staff and materia. Aerith took them with a grateful "Thanks," and bumped her shoulder against Tifa's. She followed after Cloud, looking around the room as she went. Where was Nanaki? Hojo had never brought him in and they needed to rescue him. She shouldn’t have worried. He found them, snarling past on Hojo's trail.

“We need to go,” Aerith said and raced up the stairs after him. At the end of a hallway, the professor was staggering into an elevator. No whispers in sight - they must have let him go. Nanaki leapt forward, too late. She winced at the impact as he smashed into the closing metal doors. Then he was up, stalking towards them, growling, hackles raised.  
He'd been here for over a year, treated as less than a person, less than an animal. Tortured, branded, maimed. There was no reason for him to trust anyone in the Shinra building. No reason for him to think twice about attacking them.

As the others prepared for a fight, she stepped forward, putting her body between him and them. “Stop. This child’s a friend.” _I know he doesn't look friendly, but trust me._ He shrank back as she approached, scared, teeth bared to snap. _It’s okay, Nanaki._ Like with Marlene earlier, she thought of the person he would become, of the friendship they shared. She set her hand gently on his head and let her positive energy chase away the built-up negativity. _It's good to see you._

He subsided and relaxed, the fear of this place no longer driving him. 

"Uhh... so what the hell is it?" Barret asked, glancing around as if Tifa or Cloud might know the answer.

"A fascinating question," Nanaki answered. Tifa and Barret stepped back in shock and Cloud shifted uneasily. Aerith had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing. He didn't give them his name, even when Tifa asked him directly. Aerith would have to be careful to not slip up and let on that she already knew it.

Her happiness evaporated as Cloud began staggering forward. _What?_ The lifestream around him roiled like a snake in pain, like a dog with a bad flavor in its mouth, oily and corrupt. _JENOVA_.

He made it down the hallway before collapsing. Tifa ran to his side. “What’s wrong? Cloud! Wake up!”

Aerith knelt beside and put a hand on his head. His skin felt cool, no fever. His eyelids trembled like a dreamer's. “He’s probably just tired. I don’t know when he last slept, unless him falling off the plate and landing unconscious in my church counts.” She knew they'd have to address the real issue one day, but not now, not here. Not in this building, with both Hojo and JENOVA so close.

“Come on. I know a safe place we can hide until he wakes up.” Aerith led them down echoing metal halls to a room she'd never thought she'd see again.

“What is this place?” Tifa asked as they entered. She was staring at the drawings on the wall. Aerith couldn’t speak. They had left it exactly the way she remembered it. A prison cell, dressed up to look like a home - bed, loveseat, woven rug. As a little girl, she thought everyone's homes looked like this. Cold, grey, and industrial. She had thought for sure they would have cleaned it. All she'd thought of finding was an empty cell, far from any corridor with regular foot traffic.

Tifa’s hand on her shoulder made her jump. “Hey, you okay?”

She shook her head, shaking off the concern, and pointed to the bed. “You can put Cloud down there.”

Barret hefted him off Red’s back and dumped him onto the bed with little care.

“Barret!” Tifa scolded, moving to arrange Cloud into a more comfortable position. 

He sat down on the couch with a huff. “What? His own fault for passing out and making us carry his skinny ass.” 

“ _You_ didn’t carry him,” Red grumbled.

Aerith turned away from them, running her fingers along the wall, over the drawings she’d made with her mother. Brightly colored flowers, birds, butterflies. She remembered her mother trying to explain the vastness of the ocean and what a whale was. There were drawings of materia, summons, and people from legends. The lifestream.   
She remembered standing here with the paintset her mother had bargained for with information and pliant cooperation. Her mother’s voice echoed in her memories, songs and stories that Aerith only half-remembered. Some of them were made up, but others were real, the history of the Cetra. 

Seeing her mother’s beautiful paintings and her own messy ones alongside them made her eyes sting. She squinched them shut and took a deep breath. She missed her so much.

When she opened her eyes, Red was watching her keenly. He looked away and laid down, settling in to wait. Barret began fiddling with the materia set in his gun arm. Tifa paced by Cloud's bed, rolling her shoulders and stretching her arms. Aerith went back to examining the wall - she'd forgotten a lot of the details.

Fifteen, twenty minutes after they entered the room, Cloud stirred. 

He sat up, looking around as though dazed. “Where are we?”

“Where I lived - when I was still a child.” _Home, not-so-sweet home._

They all glanced at her, then away.

Cloud got to his feet, picking up his sword from where Tifa had set it. "Don't push yourself," the fighter cautioned. 

He nodded, and stopped in front of Aerith. His blue eyes asked her for an explanation.

“Every morning, they’d come and take my mom away. I remember crying here alone.” It was hard to say, her voice breaking on the words.

“...Aerith," he said, "talk to us. There is so much we don’t know.”

She looked at the four of them. Their frank, even faces stared back, smudged faintly with soot, sweat, and blood. Proof of what they'd gone through, getting here. She knew she could trust them. She knew so many of their secrets, wasn’t it time for them to know one of hers? And honestly, this felt like revealing the smaller of two secrets, for once.

“I’m a descendant of the Ancients. That’s pretty much it, really.” 

She felt lighter saying it. “Oh, just so you know, that’s not their actual name. They called themselves the Cetra.”

Aerith was surprised to hear Barret reciting scriptures. He hadn’t, last time.

The promised land wasn’t what anyone thought it was. It wasn’t real. Not in the physical sense. Not in a metaphysical sense either - it wasn’t in the lifestream. When she said that maybe she'd find it someday inside herself, she meant that purely as metaphor. The promised land? It was peace. It was rest. It was a happiness that was more temporary, that didn't have to be fought for every day, scratched up out the dust of despair.

The Arbiters, she realized, were the opposite pole to the promised land. It wasn't tragedy, exactly, that they wanted. It was conflict. Drama. 

They hungered for _more_. She realized that now. They had a story they wanted to be told, a story that never ended. As long as the Arbiters had control, the promised land was forever out of reach. There would always be new stakes, new threats.

Barret said the promised land belonged to her people. No, it belonged to everyone. Everyone had the right to find their own promised land.

Oblivious to her thoughts, Barret continued. “All right, new plan. Y’all take Aerith and get outta’ here. Me, I’m gonna go bust some Shinra heads.”

“Barret, wait." She shook her head. "You can’t do that.” He couldn't do that alone - she turned as the whispers showed up then, whirling through the walls like horror film ghosts. Honestly, she'd been half-expecting them this whole time, from the moment she'd begun walking toward this room.

Barret summed up her feelings fairly well. “Oh, great, these assholes again. Probably some sort of Shinra experiment.”

Not quite. Should she tell them? What difference would it make if they knew?

Red beat her to it. “Some would call them the Arbiters of fate. They are drawn to those who attempt to alter destiny's course...” He looked right at her, did he know? Then he looked away, back to the others. “...and ensure they do not.”

During her sixth attempt, back in the walled garden in Wutai, Red had called them the Arbiters then, too.

Tifa stepped towards her, casting a wary glance at the whispers who coiled like smoke in the air. “Like capital D… Destiny?” 

He nodded. “The flow of the great river that is the planet, from inception to oblivion.”

“And you’re saying that flow is somehow fixed?” Tifa looked even more unsure and anxious.

Red was in no mood to give comfort. “Yes. For it is the will of the planet itself.”

No, Aerith thought. The timestream encircled the planet and the planet was part of it. But the timestream flowed on to every world, to every star. From the beginning of creation to the end of everything. It flowed alongside the lifestream, and the two rivers mingled, influencing each other, but neither… neither was fixed. Like Red said, they were rivers. Rivers could change course, overflow their banks, and find new paths.

She had to believe that or everything she did was for nothing.

Then Red confirmed that he’d found that knowledge when she’d reached out to him. That couldn’t be right. The destiny the whispers fought for wasn't what the planet desired. _Oblivion,_ he'd said, but wasn't right. The planet didn’t want to end or suffer. 

“Listen to me.” She held up her hands as the whispers, five of them, began to circle her. “Please -” It hurt when they touched her. The tattered edges of her soul, barely healed from when they had torn her apart, burned as the whispers tugged at them.

“The Shinra Electric Power Company isn’t the real enemy. It started with them, sure, but there's a much bigger threat.” The whispers, JENOVA, Sephiroth. “I just want to do everything in my power to help.” 

Yes, maybe her path lead to her death. Death didn’t scare her. Losing what she had did. But she would keep trying until the story ended and they could live in peace. _I promise, I’ll keep trying. Except… What if I can’t do it?_

“Aerith,” Tifa peered at her. “What are you not telling us?”

The whispers circled her faster, pulling her feelings away, her memories, her soul. Pulling _her_ away. Trying to return her to the unknowing girl they thought she should be.

Her lips quivered. There was a mist around her, she felt like she was looking at her friends through a veil. “I’m lost in a maze, every step is taking me further from the path.” The future was changing, but it was staying the same. She didn’t know what she was doing. It had always been trial and error. The soul fragments weren't there anymore. If she died again, could she come back? Her soul was a patchwork thing now. If the whispers pulled at the wrong thread, would she unravel, coming apart like a yarn doll? The right path was harder and harder to find. 

“Every time the whispers touch me, I lose something. A part of myself.” She was slipping, everything was slipping away. The mist was so thick. She reached out to steady herself, to find something to hang onto. 

Something warm brushed across her awareness. _Mom?_ She could hear her voice, remember her saying, _if in doubt..._ “Follow them. The yellow flowers," she whispered.

She was gone. The planet was gone. Aerith was alone in darkness with the whispers, like eels coming to devour her. _It hurts. It Hurts!_

Tifa yanked her forward, pulling her to safety, back to the light. “It’s okay. We’ll find a way out together.”

Aerith stared at her, dazed, while her pulse settled. They always did find a way, didn’t they? From the moment she'd met them to when she'd stumbled into the timestream, they had always worked as a team. 

A clunking noise made them all jump and the whispers faded away. The monitors in the room popped as static filled their screens. The image flickered and a face appeared… Wedge! He was still alive! She really shouldn’t be so surprised. She wasn’t close to him, but they had formed a connection. She would have known if he died.

He and the Mayor told them about the main force of AVALANCHE coming to help them escape. Had the whispers been so focused on her changing things they had forgotten about him? A smile tugged at her lips. Things were staying the same _and_ changing. It wasn’t just her friends, it was everyone making ripples, pushing back the whispers.

They headed out cautiously, aware that the whole building was on high alert. Following Red’s instructions to take the elevator Hojo had used earlier made her heart pound nervously. JENOVA was stored somewhere nearby. Despite all the years she'd lived here, she didn’t know the building's layout. She couldn’t offer an alternate route.

As the elevator descended, she clenched her hands in her skirt. She could feel the tension all around them as the lifestream roiled away from the tainted area. Going down, they were getting closer to it. After exiting the elevator they found _her_ , the calamity. Face to faceless, headless body. Aerith's skinned crawled. She sucked in a breath, about to say they had to leave now, when Cloud staggered forward. Her heart sank. _Not again._

Maybe she could do something to ease his pain, decrease JENOVA's influence. She took a step forward, then froze. 

Sephiroth appeared out of nowhere, standing at the end of a metal catwalk, his back to them. He turned slowly to face them, the smile on his lips cruel and mocking. Her mind raced, as desperate as a rabbit cornered by a weasel. This was too early, Cloud was a mess - she couldn't trust him, not even enough to step forward and put herself between him and their enemy. She hadn't had enough time with him and she couldn't afford to draw Sephiroth's attention to herself - not unless she wanted a sword through her guts. She was powerless.

Without warning, Cloud leaped forward, sweeping the Buster Sword toward Sephiroth. Masamune sliced through the bridge they all stood on, smooth as scissors through silk. They all fell. Aerith's slide down was arrested as Tifa caught her by the back of her jacket. She heard, felt seams rip and pop, but the fabric held. Red and Barret weren't so lucky, falling past them down into the drum. And Cloud? He'd been the furthest along the bridge, who knew how far he fell.

She looked up at the platform across from them. Sephiroth had vanished. The glass case was shattered and JENOVA was gone.

Tifa's voice was strained. “Can you grab the railing?”

“I think so.” She reached up and around the other woman, grabbing at the creaking railing. Using the rungs like a ladder, they climbed back up to steady ground.

“Do you think the others are okay?” Tifa stood with her hands on her knees, looking over the edge.

Aerith also peered into the gloom below. Smoke, sparks, and mako floated up towards them, obscuring the view. “Barret and Red probably didn’t fall as far as Cloud. And he survived a fall from the plate. He’ll be fine,” she asserted.

Tifa stood back up. “I hope you're right.”

“Well, let’s go find them.”

“Alright.” Tifa cast one last glance down below before following after her.

It was easier to find enemies than it was to find their friends, and then they couldn’t get to them without jumping through hoops for Hojo. Between fights, Aerith's hand kept twitching out, trying to find and hold Tifa's. She knotted her fingers in her dress instead. The lifestream here was acidic with more than a decade of sadness, loneliness, hurt, pain, fear. Her vision flickered with blood, operating tables, corpses, twisted creatures Hojo had mutated and mutilated in the name of his corrupted science.

“I really hate that man,” she muttered.

Tifa rubbed her arms, looking back at the ward they had just left. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” 

They did finally reunite and made their way back to the JENOVA platform, but as Aerith already knew, the body was gone. Only a putrid trail of putrid of corrupted mako remained. The green particles of drifting lifestream reflected in the tarry substance and made it look as though it was moving. _No._ It _was_ moving, furtive sloshes and bubblings. The air was rank with the rancid smell. Both Red and Cloud scrunched up their noses in disgust.

They followed the slime trail to the elevator. Her gut churned as they waited for it to take them to the top floor. “Wait. After this, there is no turning back.” 

The others turned to her. If they went forward from here, they would be back to the original story, back on the Arbiters’ path. Finding the President murdered, Sephiroth, Rufus, fleeing the tower. But this time, their escape route was on the roof. They had to go up.  
She had a bad feeling about this.

They said they were ready. She sighed. _Okay then, no turning back._ On to whatever the future held. She prayed that it would be okay.

President Shinra wasn’t in his office. Aerith’s lip curled as she looked around. Pillars, potted palms, a long red carpet leading to the imposing black marble slab of a desk. Sleek and brutal, it was a modern take on a throne room. Her disgust did not diminish even when they found him outside, dangling desperately from the side of the building, pleading for his life. All the same, when Barret began toying with him, like a cat with a mouse…

She understood Barret’s anger. But if he was going to kill the president, she wished he’d get it over with. She looked around but saw no Arbiters. Perhaps they’d be satisfied as long as President Shinra died at the right time, even if it wasn’t Sephiroth doing the killing.

A horrid strangled choke jerked her attention back. Barret had the president by the collar of his expensive suit, hanging him one-handed over the edge. The president’s hands scrabbled at his neck, his legs kicked helplessly, his breath whistled high and thin. All the pain and suffering inside the drum rushed back to Aerith, overwhelming. “Stop it!” she cried. Even though President Shinra was ultimately responsible for it all, allowing Hojo free rein, she couldn’t bear seeing Barret, kind and protective Barret, in the role of a torturer.

Barret heaved the man up, throwing him to the floor, where he rolled several feet. The executive staggered to his feet, then back inside to his desk. Barret followed him, voice aflame with emotion. Too much emotion, maybe, and not enough care - at his desk, President Shinra drew a gun of his own. 

The awful man tried lecturing Barret then. Aerith's blood boiled hearing him, but Barret looked away. _Guilt._ Tifa and Cloud shifted uneasily, too. _No,_ she wanted to say. _You know he's wrong, that's why you've fought so hard. Nothing comes from Shinra without an unbearable cost. The people, society, the world_ \- A decade of memory moved behind her eyes. _They'll move on. They'll figure out new safety nets. In the future, Shinra's a dark stain, fading to a memory. If only the whispers would quit picking at the scab_ -

Abruptly, history tilted. Changed. Sephiroth stabbed the President of Shinra Electric Power Company through the back, as before, but they were there to see it happen. There was no body slumped at the large desk, no Masamune left behind as a bloody calling card. Just a dull thud as the man’s body fell back onto the tile floor.

“You son of a bitch!” Barret ran forward. The Arbiters swarmed into the room, flooding it with their smoke and ash. Sephiroth moved. Aerith blinked, stunned, sure she was seeing visions. Surely that wasn't Barret, his sunglasses knocked from his face, Masamune through his chest, falling to the floor with a crash. Tifa shouted, took off running. Red ran too, and their motion jerked her to reality. _This was real, this was happening._

 _No! Not again!_ Masamune wasn’t like other blades, a fatal blow caused insta-death, incurable and irreversible. 

She ran with Tifa and Red to his side. Before she reached him, an Arbiter loomed up over him - _No! no! How dare it_ \- but then she felt the lifestream move through its ghostly body, and it faded into his wound. _Huh? What just...?_ She looked over to see Sephiroth walking away, Arbiters whirling around him in distress. He cut them down, destroying them with a single stroke. 

Dark purple smoke and corrupted lifestream churned around him. His image flickered, fell away to reveal a skull-faced, slithering creature of pure JENOVA cells.

“This is…” Red would know it by its scent, the thing that left that trail of putrid mako.

She knew it too. “The source. Of everything.” This was a part of the calamity that destroyed the Cetra, that gave the whispers their story and Sephiroth his power.

She held her staff up. The thing lashed its tentacles at them, and she winced. It had mental tentacles, too, crawling cold and heavy. JENOVA Dreamweaver infected their minds, so they no longer stood in the President's office, but in an illusion it created. A cavern that disoriented, strange lights and fungal growths. The others seem to only see the illusion while Aerith saw in double vision the office and the cavern overlaid.

The fight was grueling. She cast Thundagas and Healing Winds over and over again, taking out tentacles while avoiding poison raining down from above. The fight was made worse by its comparative quietness - none of Barret's ribbing remarks, no bursts of gunfire. 

Finally, it was over. The poor soul who'd been made into a Sephiroth clone staggered, unfusing from JENOVA’s corpse, and vanished. Cloud ran towards JENOVA's remnant body.

“No!” she cried. _Don’t touch it!_

Sephiroth appeared. Cloud jerked to a halt. Sephiroth stooped and reverently picked the calamity up, cradling it to his chest. He looked outside, then disappeared. She didn’t know where he went. Didn’t care.

Laid out on the floor, Barret coughed, gasped, and sat abruptly up. He was alive! A whisper ghosted out of his body. Had it... healed him? It swirled away and vanished while Aerith slumped to her knees with her mouth slack and her mind whirring. When things didn’t go their way in her prior attempts, they threw hissy fits, they…

They'd been shocked sometimes, by deaths. Once, when Cloud had killed her. When Sephiroth killed Tifa and Yuffie. Aerith had gone back to the timestream right afterward. She wondered what she might have seen if she'd slipped into the lifestream to watch. The times they'd really been upset, letting all her friends die, were when she’d truly altered their story's plot, not just what might count to them as a _scene_ in the story.

Was that the price of altering history? Enduring their vengeance? And the price of truly taking it from them would be uncertainty. Barret could have died here, but he hadn't. In the whispers' story, he was going to live for another decade. 

However, if things didn’t change, he would _only_ live another decade.

She was distracted and didn't know Cloud had gone outside until she saw him running past the windows, silhouetted against the emerald haze of pollution. Damn it, she needed to make sure he stayed away from Sephiroth! She could _feel_ JENOVA's presence outside, a weight that distorted the world. The others followed her out. A helicopter whirred toward them. Someone in brown fatigues and a black blaclava leaned out and waved at them. Their AVALANCHE rescuers. Tifa and Barret waved back, while Aerith peered up the tower to where JENOVA was.

Cloud - gorgeous, self-destructive, foolish Cloud - was climbing the ladder at high speed. She sucked in a breath to shout. He had good hearing, he _might_ hear her if he wasn't _too_ distracted. She was an optimist, she couldn't help hoping.

Then, surprising her, the Arbiters intervened. They flew at Cloud, holding him back. Sephiroth's image flickered away, leaving only a swaying clone in a tattered black cape clutching JENOVA's alien corpse. The clone collapsed, falling from the skyscraper. The whispers left Cloud alone, and he slid down the ladder to the bottom. Aerith turned away - Nanaki caught her eye briefly, his ears and tail twitching with unease, before focusing on the helicopter.

That was twice in the last twenty minutes that she'd found herself grateful to the Arbiters.

The AVALANCHE helicopter erupted in flames and went down like a broken-winged bird, revealing the hovering Shinra chopper behind it. Her teeth clenched and she was reminded of why she hated them. The Shinra craft set down and Rufus Shinra stepped out of it. History was back on the Arbiter's path. 

Every step forward came with a step back. What was the price to break out? She looked at her friend's backs, the lines of worry and stress in their shoulders. 

Cloud stayed behind to fight Rufus, giving them time to escape. He would survive this fight; they would get out of the tower. It was a comfortable certainty, like how she'd known they would come for her, rescue her from Hojo. She hadn't known they would, the first time. She'd thought nobody was reckless enough to take Shinra head-on. 

That was the price of their freedom, she thought, as she followed Barret through a wrecked office. Trading certainty for the unknown. She wouldn’t be able to control it.

They ran to the elevators, the two large glass ones that ran down the front of the tower. Barret slammed his fist on the down button and kept it pressed there, his arm knotted and tense. It only took seconds for the doors to open with a _ding_ , but it felt like an eternity.

She and Red rushed inside, but Tifa hung back.

“I’m going back.”

Barret held the door so it wouldn't close. “What?” 

“Cloud’s been off recently. You know that. I’m going to make sure he’s okay.” She turned back the way they had come.

Aerith chewed on her lip. A change - for good? Or for bad? It scared her now. “Are you sure?”

Tifa stopped and looked her shoulder at them. “Yeah.”

Barret looked like he was going to argue, but nodded grimly. “All right, you be safe. We’ll meet you on the ground floor.”

The sound of running boots and clanking armor came to them. A mass of troopers rounded the corner. “Go," Tifa shouted, "I got this!”

“Tifa!” Aerith reached out to her friend, but Barret pulled her back into the glass cylinder.

“Come on!” he said. The doors shut on a last glimpse of her friend, dodging a baton strike and laying out its deliverer with a swift uppercut. “We need to get you outta here, or the whole trip'll be for nothin'.”

“Not nothing," she mumbled, shoulders sagging. She pushed herself straight again. Fear and exhaustion were taking their toll, but she didn't have to give in. “We saved Red too.”

Nanaki must have sensed her worries. “Think they can manage on their own?”

Barret tried to reassure them, gruff and quiet. “You’ve seen them both in action. Besides -” An explosion cut him off. 

Metal and debris rained past them. She pressed herself to the glass, looking up - the helicopter platform, barely visible from their angle, was a mass of rising fire. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much time to worry about whether Cloud and Tifa had made it out. 

Quietly, Nanaki said, "Hey."

Barret turned, snapping, "What, Red?!", then shouted, "Get down!”

She ducked to her knees - she'd had only a glimpse of something huge and mechanical in the next elevator - then glass shattered all around them, peppering them with stinging fragments. The elevator dropped at such speed, cord cut, that her stomach lurched, and her clothes and hair lifted away weightless.

Gravity returned with a bone-jarring smack that sent her sprawling all the way to floor. Nanaki slid up against her, growling, his claws scrabbling for purchase. Barret staggered to his feet first, prying open the door. Aerith rose, coughing on smoke and the smell of burning metal. They didn't get far before the tank-type robot from the elevator caught up with them. Last time they'd fought it while still aboard the elevator, and this time there was no sign of its helicopter-type friend afterward.

Honestly, with the way the night had gone, General Heidegger’s appearance and the troops he brought with him only felt like a minor obstacle, even though she could tell Barret was winding up for a moving, heroic speech. They'd faced down so much worse already. 

Turned out, Barret didn't need to make his speech. There wasn't any need for a fight at all. Cloud burst onto the scene atop a Hardy-Daytona motorcycle hijacked from the showroom, running down troopers with a mix of acrobatic stunt riding and brute force. He really did have a need for speed. Tifa screeched up in a mint green mini-truck. Aerith hopped into the cab beside her while Barret and Red flung themselves into its bed and they were out, gone. Free.

But not free from destiny.

“You guys seeing this?” Barret called from the back of the truck as they sped down the highway.

She looked in the rearview. “Whispers.”

More than she’d ever seen before. They circled the Shinra building, from the plate to the top of the tower. The whole thing was one giant, swirling mass of them. They were clinging to it, to the past and the story.

They pulled to a stop and got out, looking back at the smoky tower, like a thunderhead about to unleash the storm of the century. There was a pressure like a storm too ... Something was about to happen, about to snap.

"Wedge!" Barret exclaimed. "You don't think he got caught up in it, do you?"

She closed her eyes to check, reaching out for the lifestream, when the sound of approaching engines came roaring down the road. Her eyes snapped open. Shinra troopers, on motorcycles, were bearing down on them. 

Cloud got back onto his stolen bike. "Time to go."

The chase was _mostly_ like she remembered - maybe there were more enemies? The Arbiters definitely got involved occasionally, being helpful for the third time that evening. She wasn't quite sure; it was taking a lot of focus to avoid being sick. It was a good thing she hadn't eaten lately. It wasn’t the manic driving Tifa was forced to perform that made Aerith's stomach roil though. The nausea of possibilities clawed at her. The Lifestream felt stretched, humming with tension.

They reached the tolls and Cloud pulled up short. He got off the bike and ran forward, looking for something.

Tifa jumped out of the truck. “Cloud, wait up!”

Aerith followed after. She saw it then. A black feather drifting slowly through the air. _No, dammit, we're almost out of here._

At the end of the road, black feathers wafted down and _Sephiroth. Sephiroth again._ Sephiroth descended from the sky. Barret snarled, they all prepared to fight. She put out her arm, stopping them. “Don’t.” 

She looked at the calamity's son. “And you, you’re wrong.” Everything Sephiroth said and did was twisted. Like Hojo, he ignored anything that didn’t fit his world view, or misinterpreted it until it did.

“Those who look with clouded eyes, see nothing but shadows.” His voice was smoother and richer than Hojo’s, but held the same coiled malevolence. Drawing up their doubt, playing on their fears. 

She _was_ afraid, she _was_ full of doubt. But... “Everything about you is wrong.” Her own voice was bedrock solid.

“All born are bound to her. Should this world be unmade, so too shall her children.” Around him, the lifestream seethed like water droplets on a hot stove, flinching from him. There was something darker in those words, more than just a god complex.

Cloud stepped forward, drawing his sword. “The world won’t end today, but you… You will.”

Cruel lips smiled. “Listen.”

The tower of whispers shot out across the sky. Their shrieks mixed with the voices of those who’d died in the tower, in the plate fall, everyone who'd ever died violently in Shinra's constructed city. Decades and decades of death. It got louder and louder. Death and pain in Kalm, Junon, Fort Condor, Mideel. Cosmo Canyon, Corel, Nibelheim, Wutai, Icicle Inn. Whirling further and further back, cities, towns, civilizations whose names were lost. Everything in the lifestream was screaming. Even the planet wailed. She felt it, the lifestream and timestream colliding. As the others clutched at their heads, trying to block out the sound, Aerith felt the pressure close in around her. It was as though she was back in her bubble, but its sides were distorting, about to burst. 

It did burst, an insubstantial vapor before Masamune's single swing. Sephiroth cut through her bubble, through the Arbiters, through fate itself. A dark, chaotic singularity appeared. _How did he do that, how did he know?_

“I’m waiting, Cloud.”

Aerith felt the pull in those words as Sephiroth walked away, into the possibilities he’d created. _Oh, of course, the connection._ Cloud had learned about the whispers from her and Nanaki. What Cloud knew, Sephiroth knew, and he'd twisted that knowledge to fit his plans. That must be what was happening here.

Cloud didn’t stumble, didn’t clutch at his head, didn’t fight the words. He strode towards the singularity, confident, intent on following.

She grabbed his arm. “This is the point of no return.” He stared at her, uncomprehending. She looked past him to the singularity. Lightning crackled throughout it, corrupted lifestream surged around it. Whatever future it led to would be controlled JENOVA, not the Arbiters. She walked toward it, raised her hand, and concentrated. Pure light bloomed in her hand. Hope. It pulsed into the singularity, changing it. Purging the darkness, changing it into unlimited possibilities. No longer chaotic, it burned like holy fire.

She turned to her four friends. Loud, tough, kind Barret. Strong, shy, competent Tifa. Young, wise, unshakeable Nanaki. Caring, aloof, determined Cloud. They weren't the same people she had watched over for a decade. They were their own people, individual. 

This was it. “Destiny's crossroads.” There would be no going back, no re-dos from this point on.

“What will we find on the other side?” Tifa questioned.

“Freedom.” Freedom from the whispers' script, freedom to find peace and happiness, their own promised lands. Freedom, perhaps, to suffer and die without fate’s shield. “Boundless, terrifying freedom. Like a great never-ending sky.” 

There were points she still knew, like fixed stars in that metaphorical sky. Sephiroth and JENOVA were still out there. Cloud was still partly under their influence. But she didn’t know how it would play out. Didn’t know the best action to take, the best option to help.

“What you heard just now were the voices of the planet. Those born into this world. Who lived and who died. Who returned. They’re howling in pain.” Because something had split here, on this dark highway. Maybe what the whispers had done to her in the timestream, ripping her in two, had happened again on a massive scale. And all because of Sephiroth. He'd overpowered the Arbiters, the planet's will, and time itself.

She tried to explain. “Sephiroth has to be stopped. He has to be. And that’s why… I’m asking you to help me. I know that, together, we can do this. But if we do, we’ll be changing more than fate itself.”

“If we succeed, if we win… we’ll be changing ourselves.”

Everything that made them, _them_. What was on the other side of the rift was unknown. The portal's heat warmed her skin, but she could feel too how easily that warmth might turn to blistering fire. Might burn their pasts away, their minds, their souls. She didn't think they could come out the other side the same as they went in.

"I guess," she murmured, "that's why I hesitated." She'd been through that kind of metamorphosis before. It hurt like death. Like a cold steel blade running you through, like being ripped into ragged pieces. But she came through, every time.

They went in anyway. Fate threw everything it could at them. The Arbiter's last stand. Glimpses of - _what would have been - could have been - had been -_ flashed in their minds as they fought for control of their destiny.

After the battles with the Arbiters were over, after they won, they appeared in a place between the lifestream and the timestream. Where the door hidden behind the metaphorical curtain had been. It felt different, being here in a physical body. She couldn't see very much here, anymore. Everything was white and wispy. The air was warm.

Too warm, all of a sudden. Heat and orange light radiated from above them. The sky was burning. _Meteor, too early._ And Sephiroth, who drew its energy into himself along with the putrid radiance of the corrupted lifestream.

They weren’t free yet. There was one final battle. 

They were scattered among the rubble of a broken city, but they found each other again. "We can change it - make it right," she said. Together they had the strength to take control of their own stories. They beat Sephiroth, even though the whispers intervened. She gripped her staff tightly. It didn’t matter to her what else the whispers had planned. Or even what Sephiroth had planned. She would deal with it as it came. Because today, everything had changed.

  
In the wastes, under a sky filled with grey clouds and golden light, their destinies were their own. There was fear, there was hope. Both pulsed through the planet, a steady heartbeat of life. There were countless possibilities to explore in this new future.

She wondered how the other her was doing. If she too was free.

  
☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌☠︎⌛︎⎌✂︎⚮

  
  
The other fell a bit further back. The Sector Six plate still loomed overhead.

Aerith laid in her bed thinking for a minute, taking stock, before she sat up and looked out her window. In the garden, a whisper lazily drifted above the flowers. Did it know that she was here? That her soul was from the future? Was it keeping an eye on things, making sure she played her part?

Well, she had no interest in that. It was the summer of εуλ 0007. Zack was still alive somewhere, carrying a semi-catatonic Cloud. Why play a part or rewrite the story, when she could burn the whole script? She rolled out of bed and got dressed quickly, hugged Elmyra tighter and longer than normal, and booked it out the door, hunting rumors of AVALANCHE.

Or at least she did, after first picking up a rake and smacking the whispers that tried to stop her. She made no real progress on thinning the Arbiters' numbers until she traded the rake for an iron pole. That worked a bit better and she could finally hunt down clues… and materia. Yuffie would be proud.

She tried Seventh Heaven first, but they hadn't moved in yet. That left her with little in the way of leads. After three days of fighting off whispers, hunting materia, and running errands to earn extra gil, she caught a break. AVALANCHE was in Sector Six. A young man with an acne-scarred face stood on a crate talking about the evils of Shinra, a middling-sized crowd gathering around him. She didn't recognize him or any of the others with him, but it gave her a place to start.

Unfortunately, the Arbiters were back. Without hesitation, Aerith started touching the other people in the crowd, brushing her hands along bare wrists and arms. Gasps and screams echoed off sheet metal walls as people saw, then fled, from the whispers. She took a deep breath and yelled from the bottom of her lungs, "Shinra sent monsters after us, they're trying to silence us!"

An Arbiter slammed into her, pushing her back into an alley. The memory of pain, of being ripped in two, filled her mind and she collapsed. The edges of herself burned, being scorched away. She screamed, "No! Get back!"

Out of nowhere, a knife thrust through the whisper and it faded away. The young man from earlier and his brown-armored companions stood over her. 

"Hey, you alright?" He offered her a hand up.

She took it and was pulled to her feet. "Better. Thank you."

One of the others, a stout woman with coiled braids, peered out of the alley to where the chaos in the square was fading. "What were those things?" she muttered.

If the Arbiters were going to mess with her, then she could mess with them. "Shinra's latest weapons. I came here to warn you."

All around her, eyes widened. "Then you're part of our cause?"

"Sort of. I bumped into two of your members and was hoping to talk to them again. Maybe you can help me find them? Tifa Lockhart and Jessie Raspberry." It might seem suspicious if she asked for Barret. She'd never known the specifics of their organizational structure, but she thought he was higher up on the ladder. Asking for two women around her own age? Much more normal.

The AVALANCHE members looked between themselves. "Yeah, we know them. They're a bit more…" the speaker's mouth twisted, "radical. You might get into danger hanging around them."

"I know about Shinra's new weapons, I don't think meeting up with those two will add too much extra danger into my life."

The woman with braids laughed, and the soap-box boy smiled. "Alright. You can find them at…"

Aerith walked away, rehearsing the plan she had come up with over the last few days. The bag of materia, armor, and gil she'd acquired since arriving in the past was slung over her shoulder. She felt the whispers closing in as she approached the little mechanic's shop. Hadn't they learned their lesson?

Before they could stop her, she took off running, purposely bumping into everyone she could. Most yelled in fear and ran, or threw themselves out of the Arbiters' way. A few stood their ground and fought. Those brave souls gave her the minutes she needed to reach her destination.

She threw open the shop door and ran inside, smack into Barrett. She stepped back, rubbing her nose. It was like running into a wall.

"Hey, now, who the hell are you?"

She pointed outside, playing up her panic. "Help! Shinra sent monsters after me!"

"They what now?!" He checked the ammo in his gun arm. "Get behind the counter." As soon as he cracked the door open, an Arbiter flew into his face. He stumbled back, firing. "What the fucking hell are these things?"

"Barret!? What's going on!" Tifa, Jessie, and Wedge poured into the front office, looking around wildly. 

Instantly Aerith latched on to Tifa. "Monsters," she cried, pointing at the whispers.

Able to see the enemy now, the brawler went on the offensive. She pushed Aerith behind her, who took advantage of the motion to stumble into Wedge and Jessie. They gasped as the wraiths became visible. The fight spilled into the street, where they were joined by other members of AVALANCHE who Aerith didn't know. The more people who took up the fight, the less she had to help people see them. She didn't know if the Arbiters didn't care about being seen anymore, or if the number of people who could see them influenced those around them.

It meant she no longer had to worry about bringing new fighters up to speed. Instead, she could start helping in the fight, using the Barrier Materia she'd picked up in Wall Market. She cast it first on Tifa, who was in the very middle of the action, then Jessie. 

The arrival of Shinra MPs made AVALANCHE clear out, and with them, the whispers. Aerith ran with them, following Jessie through twisting back alleys. The group split into smaller and smaller cells. She stayed with the group she knew until they arrived at a ramshackle house. There was nothing inside but boxes and crates of guns and ammo. Panting and out of breath, Jessie asked, "What the hell were those things? They just kept coming and coming, it was never-ending."

"Dunno, but this girl does." Barret jerked his thumb at her.

They all looked at her suspiciously or expectantly. For some, it was both. 

Catching her own breath, Aerith repeated her lie. "They're Shinra's newest weapons. That's why they didn't attack the MPs."

"First Mako, then SOLDIERs. What the hell is Shinra messing with now?"

"I might have some information on that." She brushed down her dress and straightened her ponytail, feeling the materia still securely knotted inside the ribbon. "It's why they were after me, and why I was trying to find you."

"Us? Why were you looking for us?" Tifa asked, patting sweat off her face with the back of her glove. She hadn't unwound from the fight yet - none of them had. Wedge looked anxious, but the rest regarded Aerith with a restless suspicion like she was trying to lure them into a trap.

"You're AVALANCHE, right? You fight against Shinra. I'm kind of on their wanted list, and I could use some bodyguards."

Barret folded his arms. "We ain't in the bodyguard business. Go get yourself a merc."

"I'm also trying to rescue some people from Shinra. Two are on the run, Shinra wants them dead, and one's imprisoned. Help me find the two fugitives, and I'll pay you with this." She held the bag out and open, so they could see the materia and gil gleaming inside. "I'm sure it'll help you in your fight."

Barret harrumphed. The prize reflected off his sunglasses, a glittering temptation. Tifa and Jessie also looked thoughtful. Wedge was the one to break the silence. "Well, we have been talking 'bout splitting from the main group. This could help."

"Split?" She kind of already knew this, but she played ignorant.

Tifa crossed her arms, voice bitter. "They've gotten bogged down in politics and weird science, just like Shinra."

"They ain't doing enough for the planet!" Barret half-shouted, his hand swinging out and clenching into a fist.

Aerith stepped towards them with purpose, firm in her conviction. "Then, let me help finance you."

Jessie eyed her, head cocked to the side. "You said they're on the run. Do you know where they are?"

She grimaced. "Sort of." She knew they were somewhere southwest of Midgar. And during her death, she'd gotten pretty good at hearing the lifestream and following connections. Maybe she could reach out to Zack through it, as she had with Cloud. It was worth a shot. "But we'll have to leave soon and the whispers, those wraith things, are going to be after us."

"But where would we be heading? Outside Midgar? Off the continent?" Jessie was still working out the logistics. Aerith could practically see her unfolding a map in her head.

"Outside Midgar, for sure. They’re trying to get here, but…" She shook her head.

"Not here yet, huh?" Barret rubbed at his chin, his calloused hand rasping across the stubble. Was he starting to consider it? She hoped so. Having AVALANCHE with her would make finding them a lot easier. 

Wedge asked, "You mentioned another one? Imprisoned?" 

She felt guilty for leaving Nanaki to Hojo's very un-tender mercy, but… "He's not in immediate danger of dying." Zack and Cloud were. 

"So we help you find and rescue the first two and you give us materia and gil. How much? You expecting us to break this third person out as well?" Barret asked.

"Agree to help me, and you'll get fourteen materia and three rare summons." She had really lucked out on finding the Cactuar, Carbuncle, and Chocobo Chick materia. "When we find them, you get the gil. Help me break out my other friend, and you get _more_ gil. And any materia we find on the way is yours."

Barret nodded. "How _much_ gil?" 

The amount she had scraped together wasn't really enough to hire them, she knew that, and she doubted Zack had any access anymore to his Shinra bank account to pay them after. When traveling before, her friends had made a mint by selling materia. She was hoping for a repeat. "Depends on how long it takes," she answered.

It took ten days, thanks to the planet. And _no thanks_ to the Arbiters, who had hounded their path from the outset. Leaving Midgar had almost seemed hopeless for a while, the whispers in the way at every turn. She hadn’t given up. She made them visible to anyone she could and kept repeating the story that they were Shinra’s monsters.

It worked. The more things she changed, the more whispers appeared, until they covered the whole city. Hundreds and hundreds of people, maybe thousands, could see them and fight them by then. They were loathsome in appearance, and they struck back when attacked. It was no wonder people started to fight back. The neighborhood watches of the slums; the street gangs, from the scrappy gangs of thieving urchins all the way up to the vicious and lethal toughs employed by Don Corneo; the fight-hungry combatants from the arena; the armored and organized main body of AVALANCHE. Even, after a day or two, Shinra’s military police, claiming the wraiths were a terror weapon unleashed by Wutaian rebels.

Outside Midgar, there were fewer of them, and they got increasingly desperate and weaker as the days went by. They were losing control. The story they wanted growing fainter and more impossible by the hour.

She and AVALANCHE were about forty or so miles away from Fort Condor, zigzagging through the increasingly verdant scrublands. Biggs, who'd been crucial during their escape from the city, stopped, frowning, turning his head from side to side. "Hey, does that sound like gunfire?"

They all stopped to listen. In the distance, from behind a copse of wind-twisted trees, Aerith could make out the _pop pop pop_ sound of rifle fire. Zack!

She took off towards the sound, the others following, calling after her to wait. The six of them crashed through the brush towards the sound of the fight. Then the gunfire and shouting stopped. Everything was silent.

"Which way?"

"Did Shinra get 'em?"

"Hey, we don't even know if that _was_ them."

She wasn't really listening. She was focused on the lifestream. There was the slightest pull, like a curious kitten inspecting a string... _There_. She took off again, Tifa right behind her. 

"Aerith, wait! We don't know -"

They burst around the trees, onto the scene of the recent fight. The brush was trampled flat and Shinra troopers lay scattered like broken dolls among the granite boulders. She knelt by a cooling body. There were no bullet holes or slashing sword wounds in his body armor. He'd simply been smacked into a off-white boulder the size of a small house. The other corpses were the same, with drying lines of blood from mouths, eyes, and ears, their limbs at odd angles. "Zack fights with the blunt edge of his sword," she said, half to herself and half to Tifa.

Tifa gave her startled, sideways look. Aerith stood, cupping her hands around her mouth. She yelled, "Zack, it's Aerith! I left Midgar to find you!"

Beside the sounds of AVALANCHE scrabbling downhill to catch up with them, all was quiet, only a breeze rustling the tops of bushes and a few brave insects beginning to hum again. If Zack was still around, he didn't respond. Did he think it was a trap?

"A wheel broke on the flower wagon and I need you to fix it! Because all you’re good for is cheap labor!"

She heard it then, a muffled snort. She spun towards the sound. "You can stop playing hide and seek, Zack Fair, I know you're out there."

"Thought I said I'd come to visit you, not the other way round?" There he was, coming around a black-flecked boulder twice his height.

Uphill, Biggs shouted, "SOLDIER!", and Jessie shouted, "A trap?!", and behind Aerith, Tifa snarled, "You!"

"Zack!" Aerith didn't care what anyone thought. Seeing Zack alive again was too much to put into words. She ran to him, just as an Arbiter rose up behind him and tried to pull him away.

A short burst of gunfire ripped through the quiet air and the whisper faded away to black sand, blown away by the breeze. "What the fuck is going on?! That's a SOLDIER!" Barret yelled.

"Ex-SOLDIER," Aerith defended, wrapping up Zack in a big hug. He was warm and solid, breathing hard. Alive. Real. Just like her. "I missed you."

His arms went around her, holding her like she might disappear. "I missed you, too." His voice was shaking. "I… The chimera brought your letter, said it was the last one. Thought you moved on."

She had. "I came to find you instead." She still loved him… and she still loved Cloud. Thinking of which... "How's Cloud?"

"He's - Wait, how'd you know about him?" He pulled away a little, looking down at her. Blue, blue eyes with a panicked spark of suspicion growing in them. A smudge of soot along his right cheek.

She rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for more lies, but the truth was _so_ wild, unbelievably so. "Because I'm a Cetra and I know way more than people think I do."

Tifa stepped up beside them, seething. _"You."_ She did not actually punch Zack, but Aerith read the urge clearly in her eyes. "This is who you dragged us out here to look for? This _monster_? He was at _Nibelheim_." All of Tifa's grief and fury was packed into the town's name.

Zack flinched at the word 'monster' and slipped out of Aerith's arms. He held his hands up, placating. "Uh, hi, you were the guide, right? Glad to see you got out."

" _Glad_ to… _raah!_ " She punched. He dodged

"Hang on, you two." Aerith stepped between them. "Listen, you can fight him all you want later -"

Zack interrupted. "I don't want to fight her. I'm glad she's alive."

"Then you can make a peace offering by bringing out Cloud," Aerith suggested.

Tifa's rage half melted into confusion. "Cloud?"

Zack glanced away, ruffling his hair with an uneasy hand. "He's not in a good way right now, babe. He's got mako poisoning. It's… we were…" He trailed off, looking haunted.

"I know. But you're here now. It's safe." She rested her hands on his arm, reassuring.

He glanced at the AVALANCHE members upslope behind her. They all still had their weapons drawn. "Safe, huh?"

"They don't like Shinra. Something you have in common now." She turned to the others. "Really, it's okay. He's not part of Shinra any more."

Wedge lowered his rifle. "I didn't think you could quit SOLDIER."

"Doesn't look like they agreed nicely to let you go." Biggs gestured to the bodies fading away into the lifestream, then holstered his gun.

Tifa pushed forward again, her fists still drawn up. "You mentioned Cloud. You know him? He's here?"

"Now wait a damn minute.” Barret also strode forward bullishly, giving Zack a good up and down as he went. “Who's this Cloud guy y'all keep talking about, and when did we agree to save some SOLDIER's murderous ass from Shinra?"

"I think," Jessie said, putting her gun away, "we agreed when we left Midgar with Aerith."

"You did," Aerith quipped, then looked between Zack and Tifa. Zack looked so tired; there were smudges of dirt and ash on his face and bare arms. Tifa was frighteningly still, hair-triggered, ready to lash out. "Cloud's…" She trailed off. How to explain this?

Tifa came to her rescue. "He's from my hometown. He left to go join SOLDIER. I haven't seen him since."

"Actually,” Zack readjusted his weight, sliding a little further away from the brawler, “you have. Cloud was on that mission. You remember the trooper that wouldn't take his helmet off?"

"No, I was a little preoccupied with everyone in my town _being_ _murdered_ and it _burning_ to the ground!" she snapped.

Zack winced. "Well, he was there… I'll just go get him." He edged away from them, heading back around the boulder with a wary glance over his shoulder.

"Tifa, it's going to be okay." Aerith tried to placate her aggravated friend, but Tifa was having none of it. After all, to her, they'd only known each other a week and a half.

"Did you know?"

"About Nibelheim? Yes." Tifa was about to say something, but Aerith spoke faster. "Tifa, I need your help. Zack was right when he said Cloud's not doing well. It's the mako poisoning. I need _you_ , Tifa. He needs you, someone he's known a long time and trusts."

Tifa stared back, the anger fading from her eyes. "Aerith, I just…" She broke off as Zack reappeared. Cloud's arm was draped over his shoulder. Zack supported most of his weight. Cloud stumbled over each step, his head wobbling like a baby chick's. 

"Cloud," Tifa breathed. "Is he going to be okay?"

Zack looked at her, back at Cloud, sadness twisting his face. "I hope so."

Tifa walked over, reaching out hesitantly. One last Arbiter rose up to intercept her. It was weak now and transparent. One strong strike of Aerith's staff went through it and it faded to ash. Tifa's fingers settled lightly on Cloud's upper arm, and Aerith felt a great sigh of tension leaving the planet. Resentment and fear washed away. Hope and anticipation flared.

She smiled, stepping up to stand beside them. "He's just a little lost right now. But with the two of you here, I'm sure we'll find him in no time."

The future was theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> So this sprawled. It also kept changing as I wrote it, particularly Aerith’s views and opinions on the whispers, thus sending me back through for editing and updating to fit the new changes.
> 
> I haven't played the remake yet, only watched portions, and my headcanons haven't fully formed, but I hope this works for you, chofi, and scratches that Aerith-time-travel itch.


End file.
